The Embassy Spokesperson's further comments

2020-02-27 07:00

Our Spokesperson comments posted on February 25 invited debates from many people including Mr Bilahari. We believe that exchanging views helps people understand each other better. We would like to make further comments:

Epidemics run through the human history. The emergence of a virus has nothing to do with a specific political system. Epidemics could emerge under any society and spread regardless of race or ideology. Linking infectious diseases to a political system is scientifically untenable and politically harmful.

However the prevention and control of the fatal epidemics are associated with the institutional system and governance capacity. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, China took its institutional advantages to organize a concerted, comprehensive, inter-agency response for disease control as well as supporting Hubei, the most-affected province where more than 10 million people have sacrificed their normal life for virus prevention. At the same time, more than 30,000 medical staff, a large number of daily necessities and medical supplies were mobilized to Hubei from across the country. In this rare and unusual period, the social order of Hubei remains stable and people's daily life is guaranteed.

It wasn't easy, but China made it. Without a strong leadership and an efficient social system, this would be a mission impossible. Although the time to relax vigilance is yet to come, encouragingly these efforts have paid off in a short time. For days, the total number of newly confirmed cases outside Hubei has remained in single digits. "Zero case reports" are registered in most provinces and the situation in Hubei Province has also been significantly improved. With above-mentioned achievements, the value of China’s political system speaks for itself.

The great sacrifices made by the Chinese people, especially the people in Hubei, have been widely praised by the international community. Leaders from more than 160 countries and 30 international organisations have expressed their sympathy and support to China. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his gratitude to all the people in China who are suffering in their daily life for preventing more transmission and are making contributions to the world. WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward said China has taken "differentiated approach",which has prevented or at least delayed hundreds of thousands of new cases. To the people in Wuhan, it is recognized that the world is in your debt.

The Covid-19 is new to us all and its research is still in the early stage. It takes time to know it. Soon after identifying the virus, China took rapid prevention and control measures, promptly informed the WHO and shared the virus DNA sequence with other countries, based on which, Singapore developed a diagnostic test kit within a short period of time and donated some of them to China. This cooperation greatly improved the capabilities of both countries to fight the disease.

The epidemic will eventually end. It will never be an "inflection point" on China's way forward, but a new "starting point". The Chinese people will unite closely around the CPC Central Committee with General Secretary Xi Jinping at the core,and strive hard to modernize the system and capacity for governance,including public health system. We will continue to strengthen cooperation with the international community in an open manner and work together to create a community of shared future for mankind. We know that misinterpretation, prejudices and challenges against China will be there and probably along with the whole process of China's rise. China is a big country with a huge population of 1.4 billion. There is no ready-made model to copy. We welcome people who are interested in China to visit the country more often, and hopefully some prejudices could be changed by what you see.