China's Premier Li Kequiang today pledged US$14.49 million dollars for the search of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared without a trace last year, Chinese state media reported.

Li made the announcement during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the sidelines of the leaders' summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) in Kuala Lumpur, according to Xinhua news agency.

Australia is leading the search for the Beijing-bound MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, about an hour after it took off from KL International Airport.

About two-thirds of the 239 people aboard the missing plane were Chinese citizens.

The aircraft was believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, but searchers have yet to recover the missing plane.

Earlier in the month, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Malaysia has so far spent US$53.95 million in search of the missing aircraft.

In July, search teams discovered a piece of wing on the shore of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, which was verified by aviation experts to be part of the missing flight MH370.

- dpa