PARIS - Kishore Rao, director of the World Heritage Center of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has praised China's efforts in supporting world heritage protection.

"China has always been a very strong supporter of world heritage protection," Rao told Xinhua in a recent interview at the beginning of the 35th session of World Heritage Committee held in Paris on June 19-29.

The ongoing session is considering requests for the inscription of 37 new sites into the World Heritage List, including two in China: Wudalianchi National Park in Heilongjiang province, Northeast China, and West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in the east.

"Whenever I visited China and visited the world heritage sites, I see the enthusiasm with which there is a lot of public support for world heritage and China has always tried to do its best and it is trying to protect the world heritage," Rao said, but also admitting that problems still exist.

"It's very difficult to say that one has always done the perfect things required to protect the world heritage," he said. "It's a constant process of management which has to be kept up to date."

So far, there have been 40 sites in China on UNESCO World Heritage List, including 28 World Cultural Heritage Sites, eight World Natural Heritage Sites and four World Natural and Cultural Heritage sites.

Rao said the Chinese government as well as the public are apparently making efforts to offer better protection. China is "trying to meet the challenges and to meet the decisions of the world heritage committee. I guess it's a very good response from the Chinese government", he said.

The session of the World Heritage Committee usually discusses the implementation of the World Heritage Convention and the protection of inscribed sites, and considers nominations of new cultural and natural sites that are waiting to enter the World Heritage List.

He said this year's meeting will also examine the state of conservation of 169 properties, including 34 sites inscribed in the List of World Heritage in Danger.