Cohesion wins pandemic: China's difficult but positive experience
China was first to face a new global challenge, and has developed a unique experience in the difficult struggle against the coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic that successfully helps many other countries cope with the outbreak of a formidable infection, stop its spread and save the lives of many people.
The whole world watched how the Chinese people acted selflessly, showing strong will, firm spirit and amazing unity. It is these qualities that allowed us to turn the tide of the struggle in favor of humanity.
The measures were taken in a decisive and timely manner, and, as practice has confirmed, they were truly effective. Therefore, now that the Celestial Empire has practically coped with the epidemic, the experience of this country is in demand for study and development.
This is the topic of the interview with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Turkmenistan Sun Weidong, given to an ORIENT correspondent.
- Mr. Ambassador, according to media reports, the epidemic of coronavirus in China has declined. How did the Chinese people achieve this result in a short time?
- Since the outbreak of the pneumonia epidemic caused by the COVID-19 type coronavirus, the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping has been closely monitoring the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the country, attaching paramount importance to the prevention and control of the epidemic, personally directing and issuing orders to combat it.
Under his leadership, the Chinese people launched a general war, a total and barrage battle against the epidemic. For more than three months, Xi Jinping held more than 20 important meetings, visited the epidemic epicenter - Wuhan City, Zhejiang Province 6 times, inspected medical facilities and the residential community, giving instructions on how to solve the priority tasks.
Having identified the causative agent of coronavirus and immediately adopted comprehensive preventive and control measures that far exceed the standards of the World Health Organization, China quickly achieved milestone results, which helped to gain valuable time for the global fight against the epidemic.
- What is the situation with coronavirus in China today?
- Today, the sanitary-epidemiological situation in China continues to improve. On May 18th, 6 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection were recorded in China: three of them were imported from abroad plus three cases of local infection. Excluding data from Xiangang, Aomen and Taiwan, less than 100 cases of COVID-19 remain in the country. At the same time, production, work of enterprises and studies have resumed, efforts are being made to minimize the damage caused by coronavirus infection.
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All this time, China, adhering to the concept of a community of the common destiny of mankind, has been actively developing international cooperation. During this period, Chairman Xi Jinping held meetings and negotiations with the WHO Director-General, heads of state, as well as more than 50 telephone conversations with heads of international organizations and various countries, made a speech at the opening ceremony of the 73rd session of WHO. All this contributed to the concentration of common powerful efforts to combat the epidemic.
The Chinese government demonstrated a transparent and responsible attitude, the genetic sequence of the coronavirus was published, the country openly shared its fighting experience and helped other states and international organizations in countering coronavirus.
China has donated $ 50 million to WHO to increase the prevention and control of the epidemic in several countries. For another two years, it will provide international assistance in the amount of 2 billion US dollars to countries affected by the epidemic, especially developing ones, in their fight against coronavirus and the resumption of socio-economic activity. Our country has also provided medical supplies as assistance to more than 150 states and international organizations, and continues to do so.
China sent 21 groups of medical experts to 19 countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Serbia, Cambodia, Venezuela, etc., held over 120 special video conferences with more than 160 countries and international organizations.
As WHO head Tedros Adan Gebreisus said: “China’s efforts to combat the epidemic deserve gratitude, respect and study.” I am sure that in the end we will definitely defeat the coronavirus epidemic.
- We know that China is actively working on a vaccine against coronavirus. When can it become available?
- The main role of the vaccine is to block the transmission of the virus. This is the most productive medical method for preventing an epidemic, as well as a powerful scientific and technological weapon for the complete destruction of smallpox, plague and other infectious diseases. The safety and efficacy of the vaccine comes first and more stringent requirements are placed on it than on conventional drugs.
With the advent of the coronavirus epidemic, the creation of a vaccine in China was immediately included in important research projects, and emergency development began along five technical routes: live attenuated influenza, recombinant subunit, inactivated, based on an adenoviral vector and based on nucleic acids. China stands for international cooperation and concentration of human wisdom. Chinese companies conduct practical development together with colleagues from Russia, the USA, Germany, Great Britain and other countries.
I want to assure you - Chinese scientists, researchers and experts are working day and night, trying their best not to miss the precious time, in strict accordance with the sequence of animal tests and subsequent three-phase human tests. At present, the evaluation of the effectiveness of some vaccines has already been completed, and sequential clinical trials are expected.
So, on March 16th, a recombinant vaccine against COVID-19, developed by a research team of Chinese specialists, received permission to start clinical trials. Their first phase has already been completed, and a second phase is currently underway. This is the first vaccine in the world against COVID-19, which has passed to the second stage of clinical trials.
In addition, clinical trials of 3 inactivated vaccines against new coronavirus pneumonia also started. In general, in the country, 4 vaccines were transferred to the stage of clinical trials, which allowed China to take a leading position in this matter.
At the same time, China has already built the world's largest workshop for the production of COVID-19 vaccine with an annual production capacity of 100 million doses. It will satisfy the needs of both routine vaccination and, if necessary, their large-scale emergency production.
According to experts, the sale of the Chinese vaccine against COVID-19 is expected at the end of the current or early next year. I hope that the Chinese vaccine will soon bring good news to people around the world and will contribute to the victory over coronavirus.
- The foreign media has reported that due to the rapid spread of coronavirus, the demand for energy carriers in China decreased, due to which gas imports were reduced. Has this situation affected the supply of natural gas from Turkmenistan?
- The epidemic of coronavirus pneumonia has spread throughout the planet, as a result of which the global economy is stagnating and the demand for energy carriers on the world market has fallen significantly. In China, an epidemic erupted during Spring Festival vacations, causing declining demand for natural gas. In order to prevent the spread of the epidemic after the holiday, the Chinese government demanded companies, factories, etc. to postpone returning to work at a later date or to partially resume it.
Domestic demand for natural gas in China has significantly decreased, the pressure of gas pipelines has been continuously increasing, which threatened their safe functioning. In this regard, temporary emergency measures had to be taken, including reducing the country's natural gas production. It was necessary to postpone the adoption of a large volume of liquefied gas, reduce the import of pipeline gas, etc.
- Mr. Ambassador, it is clear that COVID-19 is a great test for the global healthcare system. But in fact among the tested were both global and national economies, including China.
- Yes, the coronavirus delivered a fairly strong blow to the Chinese economy, but it has great flexibility and tremendous moving force. The impact of the epidemic will be short-term, external and controlled, the improvement of the fundamentals of the country's economy and the growth trend in the long term have not changed - this is how I can describe the situation as a whole.
Over 70 years of development, China has firmly taken the place of the second largest economy in the world, the country has created a modern, most comprehensive industrial system, there is a large-scale market and consumer potential. To stimulate social and economic growth, the PRC government has already introduced a number of measures to reduce taxes and fees, it uses a variety of financial instruments to support production, and preparations for the implementation of important projects are carried out at an accelerated pace. China will strengthen regulation and macroeconomic policies, striving to achieve the goals set for the current year.
Under the firm leadership of the Chinese government, the coronavirus epidemic in China has been taken under reliable control, which is why it has weakened. Demand for natural gas is gradually increasing, and Chinese companies intend to increase its intake. Despite many objective difficulties, the Chinese side will make every effort to fulfill its obligations on gas cooperation in 2020.
- Turkmenistan has taken a number of measures to prevent the import of coronavirus into its territory. How do you evaluate these measures of the government, and how are employees of foreign embassies in the country working today?
- President Berdimuhamedov pays great attention to ensuring the health of the Turkmen people, he personally held special meetings several times and took timely comprehensive and preventive measures from the first days of reports of acute infectious pneumonia. The foreign political, medical and customs departments of Turkmenistan by all means prevent the entry of coronavirus into the country.
The Turkmen Foreign Ministry has also repeatedly sent notes to diplomatic missions in the country in order to inform on sanitary-epidemiological measures in a timely manner. Currently, there is a favorable situation with the prevention of the epidemic, it is stable and under control.
In order to prevent the importation of coronavirus, the country has restrictions on the movement of citizens, the access control regime has been strengthened, quarantine and medical monitoring of arrivals from abroad have been envisaged, sanitary and disinfection measures are being carried out in institutions, etc. We fully understand and respect the measures that Turkmenistan has taken to protect its citizens.
On the other hand, the epidemic of new coronavirus pneumonia has had a serious negative impact on international trade and countries are taking active responses. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov also noted at the video summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in the format of a contact group dedicated to countering the coronavirus infection COVID-19 that we must quickly and fully restore transport links between states and regions, transit corridors, and look for new routes. The Chinese side is ready to make joint efforts, to develop exchanges between customs and other bodies to promote bilateral trade.
Taking this opportunity, I want to express my gratitude for the concern shown about the foreign diplomats who are in Turkmenistan. All employees of our embassy are in a good working and living mood and are ready to withstand the challenges together with the Turkmen people.
Of course, a joint response to the epidemic has become our current main concern. At the beginning of the outbreak, the Chinese Embassy in Turkmenistan established a contact mechanism for the prevention and control of the epidemic with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. Every day, our embassy sends to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan information on the control experience, as well as diagnostic manuals and treatment protocols for coronavirus pneumonia, etc. as reference materials.
- Mr. Ambassador, the Chinese sages of antiquity instructed that in the Sublunar world there is nothing that cannot teach us the useful and the good.
- Any virus has no borders and therefore it is a common enemy of all mankind. And this teaches us that solidarity and cooperation is the most powerful weapon in the fight against common threats and challenges. This is one of the main lessons that need to be realized.
Recently, President Berdimuhamedov said at a video summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in the form of a contact group that the pandemic is a global challenge, and effective response to it requires the entire international community to take joint, collective and joint actions. The Chinese side deeply agrees with this and highly appreciates this position. The emergence of an epidemic of new coronavirus pneumonia has once again demonstrated that humanity is a community of one destiny, sharing joys and sorrows with each other.
Seven years ago, President Xi Jinping put forward an initiative to build a community of one destiny for humanity. The sudden epidemic spanning all continents gave us a deep idea of the importance and relevance of accelerating the construction of such a community.
It is not the first or the last time in the history of human civilization, when such a large-scale emergency of a global nature occurs. History shows us that humanity grows and develops with the continuous overcoming of various diseases and disasters. As soon as the states unite and develop cooperation with all sincerity, the humanity will temper and become even stronger.
I strongly believe that globalization remains a common development trend. It is inevitable, and the concept of a common destiny of the whole world will be deeply rooted in the hearts of people, and different countries will make a big breakthrough in the practice of joint construction of the Community of the Unified Fate of Humanity.
