No country can face the pandemic by going it alone: Geng Shuang

Phoenix TV : US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in an interview yesterday (March 24) talked about moving medical equipment supply chain back to the US from China and elsewhere. President Trump also stressed in a daily briefing on coronavirus that the US should never be reliant on a foreign country for the means of its own survival. US media reported that the US is preparing an executive order to relocate the supply chain of enterprises. Do you have any comment?
 

Geng Shuang: In an era of globalisation, the interests of all countries are closely intertwined. The formation and development of global industrial and supply chains are determined by market forces and companies' choices. As such, it is unrealistic and insensible to try to sever them or even trumpet “shifting” or “decoupling” theories as they run counter to economic law. In the face of the pandemic, such practice will not help solve problems at home. It will only harm the interests of US businesses and people.
 

China is a leading manufacturer as well as a major producer and exporter of epidemic-related and medical supplies. As the situation is getting better at home, China is gradually resuming its normal socio-economic order. We are providing support to the steady operation of global industrial and supply chains by accelerating resumption of work and production. Chinese businesses are speeding up manufacturing of urgently needed medical supplies for the world. China has pledged assistance to 82 countries, the WHO and the African Union, and facilitated commercial procurement in China for countries in need, like I said earlier. Our responsible practice has been well recognised by the international community.
 

To sum up, I want to stress that no country can face the pandemic by going it alone. It’s time for solidarity and cooperation rather than division and decoupling.
 

Beijing Youth Daily: China released information on several video conferences on COVID-19 recently. Could you give us a number of such meetings? Will there be more?
 

Geng: After the outbreak of COVID-19, China has been fighting it with all-out efforts. The most comprehensive, stringent and thorough measures taken have produced positive effects. Thanks to the Chinese people’s arduous efforts, the situation at home keeps trending for the better. China has made tremendous sacrifice in this battle and its efforts are an important contribution to the world as they bought precious time for other countries. We have also gathered valuable experience in this process.
 

With the pandemic breaking out and spreading in many places across the globe, China, with the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind and a responsible attitude towards global public health security and people's well-being, has been sharing its experience through communication, coordination and cooperation with relevant countries and regional organisations in an open and transparent manner.
 

As of today, incomplete statistics show that China has held about 20 video conferences for experts with more than 100 countries in Northeast Asia, South Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South Pacific as well as international organisations including the Asean, the EU, the AU, the SCO and the Caribbean Community. The latest conference was held yesterday with over 200 specialists and officials from Nicaragua and 24 Latin American and Caribbean countries having diplomatic ties with China. Exchange through this mechanism has helped countries across the globe.
 

The Chinese side shared via video link what we have learned about COVID-19, including epidemiological features, prevention and control strategies, clinical diagnosis and treatment, and tracing of close contacts, and offered suggestions to foreign counterparts. Participants all expressed thanks to China and spoke highly of the open, transparent, information-rich and professional meetings, where Chinese experts shared everything within their knowledge that their foreign counterparts can learn from.
 

As we speak, China is still receiving requests for such conferences from many countries. Competent departments are doing all they can to coordinate arrangements. We will continue close communication and exchange with other parties through video link to help developing countries enhance capacity-building and mount a concerted response to the pandemic for regional and global public health security.
 

Besides these conferences, China has also released the seventh version of its diagnosis and treatment protocol and sixth of prevention and control protocol. They are a collection of combat experience gathered over the course of more than two months. They represent the wisdom and hard work of tens of thousands of frontline medical personnel in China. With the protocols translated into many foreign languages, we are sharing them with WHO and the international community.
 

The video conferences and diagnosis and treatment protocols are both examples of how China is contributing to the global response through technical assistance and public goods.
 

I want to stress that large-scale infectious diseases are major unconventional security threats to mankind. The virus is a common scourge facing all. With our future linked together, countries can only overcome the challenge by standing in solidarity. China will stay committed to the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, work together with other countries to defeat the virus through mutual assistance, and contribute our wisdom, experience and prescription to the international community.
 

Bloomberg News: We are wondering if you had any comment on President Trump’s decision to stop using the term “Chinese virus”?
 

Geng: China has made clear its stance on the origin of the virus. We firmly oppose stigmatisation on China. This stance has not changed.
 

The virus knows no borders and ethnicity. It can only be defeated by the concerted efforts of all mankind...
 

Edited excerpts from a press briefing by China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang, in Beijing on March 25