H.E. Mr. Gui Congyou, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Sweden keynoted the webinar held by the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden (BRIX) under the title “The Health Silk Road – Key to the Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic”.
Mr. Gui Congyou thanked “BRIX for providing this online platform where we join each other for timely communication on battling COVID-19 and improving cooperation.” Mr. Gui emphasized that “from a historical angle, a pandemic could happen at any corner of the world, and the history of humanity is a history of battles against various plagues and prevailing over them. We are confident that COVID-19 is another that will be defeated.” He said, “The Chinese government, despite facing a challenging situation itself, has been providing assistance in medical supplies to over 150 countries and international organizations, including the World Health Organization and the African Union.”
The video of the webinar is available at the this link!
Transcript of translation of the speech of Ambassador Gui Congyou, People’s Republic of China:
Compassion amid a pandemic and a shared future on the Silk Road of Health
Your Excellencies, experts and friends joining us online,
Let me first thank BRIX for providing this online platform where we join each other for timely communication on battling COVID-19 and improving cooperation.
From a historical angle, a pandemic could happen at any corner of the world, and the history of humanity is a history of battles against various plagues and prevailing over them. We are confident that COVID-19 is another that will be defeated. Facing the epidemic, the Communist Party and Government of China put the health and safety of the 1.4 billion Chinese people first. Under the direct leadership of President Xi Jinping, China’s central government and governments at all levels took the most stringent, thorough and complete measures. The whole country stood as one, and secured important progress for the current stage after making tremendous sacrifice. As WHO experts said, China took the most courageous, flexible and active measures, which altered the dangerous course of fast spread of the virus and prevented hundreds of thousands of infections nationwide.
Dear experts and friends,
The pandemic once again shows that the world is in a community of shared security, health and future. In June 2016, President Xi Jinping proposed the important initiative to build a Silk Road of Health. Since the outbreak, the Chinese side has shown, through its actions, its commitment to a community with a shared future for humankind, to international health cooperation and the Silk Road of Health.
China immediately notified other countries and organizations of the outbreak and shared its experience with the world without any reservation. China swiftly translated the 7th edition of COVID-19 Diagnosis and Treatment Plan and 6th edition of Prevention and Control Plan, and held video conferences with experts from the EU, ASEAN, AU and many other countries.
The Chinese Government, despite facing a challenging situation itself, has been providing assistance in medical supplies to over 150 countries and international organizations including the WHO and AU. It is also facilitating other countries’ purchase of medical supplies in China and sending expert teams to countries worst hit by the pandemic.
China has been firmly supporting the leadership of the UN and WHO in their active coordination of global response. Since the outbreak, China has donated USD 50 million to the WHO for pandemic response and supporting health system build-up in developing countries.
The only goal of China putting in all these efforts is to help other countries to contain the outbreak as soon as possible, because we have always believed that we are all bound by a shared destiny, and to help others is to help oneself. China will make its best effort to do whatever that helps curb the global spread of the virus and save more lives.
People in Sweden are also suffering from a severe outbreak. Facing the common enemy of all humanity, there is no reason for us not to stand together and support each other. I have had many phone calls with Foreign Minister Linde and her colleagues and we agree that international cooperation is key to control the pandemic. Chinese officials and experts invited officials and experts from over a dozen European countries, including Sweden, to attend video conferences. China provided prompt facilitation for Swedish organizations purchasing medical equipment in China. Chinese experts and Swedish experts from the Karolinska Institute have established regular online communication mechanism, holding discussions on virus evolution, clinical diagnosis and treatment and medicine selection, and conducting cooperation on multiple subjects. The Embassy also donated protective gears to Swedish hospitals and elderly homes, to help Sweden’s fight against the virus.
As President Xi Jinping stressed, solidarity and cooperation is the world’s most powerful weapon to defeat the pandemic. As State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out, it is important to advance the community with a shared future for human kind in the global response to the pandemic. We also noticed that the article jointly issued by Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde, Minister for Trade Anna Hallberg and Minister for International Development Cooperation Peter Eriksson stressed that the virus knows no borders and it is important to enhance international cooperation against the pandemic. China and Sweden hold the same position on enhancing international cooperation, and can well work together to overcome the challenges.
Compassion of humanity will prevail over the pandemic. We must make correct choices, stand together, and adopt scientific approaches to win the battle together. China is willing to join hands with partners across the world, build a Silk Road of Health together, work for better global health governance, build a community with shared health and make contributions to the well-being and health of people all over the world.
May the conference be a full success! Thank you!
For more information on the webinar, click here!