Let cooperation dispel dark clouds of coronavirus

By He Yin

China is ready to work with France for greater coordination and cooperation in the UN, the G20 and other frameworks to promote joint prevention and control and improve global health governance, Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a phone conservation with French President Emmanuel Macron on March 23.

Xi also stressed the necessity to help developing countries and other countries in need to build capacity and to counteract the impact on the global economy. Cooperation, the Chinese President noted, is like sunshine that can drive away the dark clouds of the epidemic.

Standing at the height of global health governance to underline the importance of solidarity and collaboration, the Chinese President has demonstrated the country’s strong determination and faith to work with other countries to fight the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic and safeguard global development.

To promote solidarity and cooperation is a vital responsibility of the international society in combating COVID-19. Solidarity, as WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeated called for, shall be the common choice of all countries.

Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy noted that countries must strengthen cooperation because it’s the crucial moment for upholding multilateralism and jointly fighting COVID-19, and concerted efforts are needed to overcome the common threat of mankind.

In the era of globalization, countries share challenges and responsibilities. They should realize that to protect the health and security of their own people is a contribution to safeguarding global health security, and helping each other with the COVID-19 control efforts is to relive their own burden.

Countries should complement each other in the battle against COVID-19, cooperate vigorously in scientific research, share research data and information, and jointly study and propose coping strategies. Cooperation is an inescapable duty of all countries, and the epidemic tests the sense of responsibility.

To strengthen communication and coordination is essential. The mounting epidemic prevention pressure makes communication and coordination a pressing task of all countries.

In recent days, through video conferences, Chinese medical experts have introduced China’s experience on COVID-19 fight, and shared the latest research outcomes, information and relevant measures on epidemic prevention and control with their foreign peers from Pacific island countries, Africa, Europe, Eurasia, South Asia, Latin America and Caribbean countries on curbing the COVID-19 pneumonia.

At China's initiative, foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea held a special video conference on COVID-19, discussing the joint prevention and control mechanism among the three countries to effectively curb the spread of the epidemic.

The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors discussed with each other on global economy during a televised meeting and agreed to develop a joint G20 Action Plan in response to the pandemic.

Global countries are enhancing communication and collaboration as COVID-19 is spreading fast and has exerted extensive impacts. It conforms to their common interests to propel global cooperation on COVID-19 control and reduce the impact of the pandemic on global economy to the largest extent.

Improving global health governance is an initiative that benefits the future generations. Over the past decades, the world has made notable progress in this respect, but also faced complicated and arduous challenges posed by frequent occurring of infectious diseases. In addition, mass population movement in the era of globalization has made health threats more globalized. Also, the weakness of the global health governance system mirrored by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pneumonia has heightened the urgency of improving global public health governance.

Isolation won’t stop the spread of the virus, and no single country is able to meet all challenges on its own. To protect people’s health, countries need to adhere to multilateralism, uphold the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and jointly build a community of common health for mankind.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, noted that “We need to save lives now while also improving the way we respond to outbreaks in general.” To improve the ability to protect mankind against viruses, countries need to be future-oriented and improve global health governance through joint efforts.

The coronavirus has brought about tough challenges to the human race. To deal with the unknown and huge challenges and mitigate the wide-ranging influence of the epidemic, mankind needs to work together to beat the virus with faith and bravery. We should believe that as long as countries of the world act to hold the principle of a community with a shared future, and cooperate with each other, we’ll surely dispel the clouds of the virus with cooperation and safeguard people’s right to life.