China launches active international cooperation to combat COVID-19

By Wu Gang, People’s Daily

The State Council Information Office of China held a press conference on March 26, where officials from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and National Health Commission (NHC) shared the development on international cooperation in fighting COVID-19 and answered questions from journalists.

According to the press conference, China has offered multilingual prevention and therapeutic plans and held a video conference to share COVID-19 control experiences with the international community. Besides, it also timely shared scientific data, technical results and prevention strategies, shared Chinese experiences and technologies, and rendered assistance and technical support for other affected countries and regions.

So far, the country has offered assistance in 4 batches to 89 countries and 4 international organizations to combat the novel coronavirus, and a fifth batch is currently under planning.

The virus knows no borders or ethnicity, and it can only be defeated by the concerted efforts of all mankind. And that’s why the G20 Extraordinary Virtual Leaders' Summit on COVID-19 attracted global attention.

Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui introduced at the conference that the summit was the first major multilateral diplomatic activity joined by Chinese President Xi Jinping since the COVID-19 outbreak. China has achieved prominent results in epidemic prevention and control, and is actively helping other countries in this regard, receiving high reputation from the international society, he said.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, China shared the completed genome sequence of the novel coronavirus with the WHO at the first opportunity, laying an important foundation for global scientists to conduct medicine, vaccine and therapeutic researches.

Vice Minister of Science and Technology Xu Nanping said global scientists coped with the pandemic together, conducted joint researches, and shared the results. According to him, Chinese scientists, having done substantial researches on medicine development and clinical treatment, have preliminarily formulated a relatively complete technical plan. China will further share the results, conduct international cooperation, and actively launch and join international clinical researches, he added.

Many countries gave China valuable support when the country was at a critical moment of combating the virus. Now, when COVID-19 is basically controlled at home, China is willing to reinforce the pandemic control for these countries by dispatching medical experts and other forms, upholding the vision of building a community with a shared future, and conveying the confidence to defeat the virus, said Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the NHC.

Zeng said China will take the initiative to share its experiences in treating the disease, and actively share with the international society the latest therapeutic and prevention plans in accordance with the demands in different countries.

In-depth technical exchanges have been conducted by the NHC. It held a video conference to share China's experience with representatives from 77 countries and 7 international organizations who attended, which was viewed by over 100,000 people online, Zeng said. Besides, the NHC also established an online knowledge center of epidemic prevention and clinical treatment, as well as an international expert database, conducting nearly 30 technical exchange conferences with over 100 countries and regions. It timely responded to the demand of foreign countries and realized precise docking between Chinese and foreign prevention and treatment plans, Zeng added.

So far, China has offered assistance to 89 countries and 4 international organizations. Deng Boqing, deputy head of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) noted that to actively offer foreign assistance within its capability is an inevitable requirement for China to uphold the right approach to justice and interests and practice the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind. It is also a responsibility of a major country, and a duty bound for a country that had received assistance from its partners during hardships, he added. He said the foreign assistance will also control and lower the risk of imported infections for China.

When COVID-19 is exacerbating and spreading around the globe, the urgent need for the international society is to launch effective joint prevention and control, said the deputy head of the CIDCA, adding that only solidarity can help human beings overcome difficulties, and only joint efforts can help them defeat the virus.

Staff members of the Indonesian government count the supplies donated by China at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, March 26. Photo by Xu Wei, People’s Daily