Rice visits China quake zone

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised China’s post-earthquake recovery efforts during a visit to the disaster zone today, saying it contrasted with Burma’s reluctance to allow in aid after a devastating cyclone.

Rice was the highest-ranking American to inspect damage from the May 12 quake that damaged a wide swath of southwest China’s mountainous Sichuan province. The magnitude-7.9 quake killed almost 70,000 people, including thousands of schoolchildren who died when their classrooms crumbled.