Observer Report
Beijing
Invited by the government of Uruguay, Li Ganjie, President Xi Jinping’s special envoy and Minister of Ecology and Environment, will attend the power handover ceremony of the Uruguayan President in Montevideo on March 1.
Invited by head of Japan’s National Security Council Shigeru Kitamura, Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, will visit Japan and have a new round of China-Japan high-level political dialogue from February 28 to 29.
Before we begin the Q&A session, I’d like to share some figures with you. According to the NHC update this morning, February 26 saw 2,750 patients cured and discharged from hospital in China’s mainland, bringing the total number of cured cases to 32,495 as of 24:00, February 26.
Q: The COVID-19 situation in the ROK and Japan has become increasingly severe, which has attracted a lot of attention from the international community including China. Is China considering enhancing cooperation with the two countries in fighting against the epidemic together?
A: We have been closely following the developments of the epidemic in the ROK and Japan. We have received great support and help from the ROK and Japanese governments and people in our fight against the epidemic, to which we are deeply grateful, and we certainly can relate to what they are going through at the moment. As friendly, close neighbors, China, Japan and the ROK are a community with a shared future in the face of the epidemic. China will not be absent in our two neighbors’ fights against the epidemic.
Under the current circumstance, we stand ready to improve and strengthen our emergency communication and coordination mechanism on public health and epidemic prevention with the ROK and Japan, enhance information sharing on the epidemic, exchange related experiences and technologies, and conduct cooperation on diagnosis, treatment and medicine and vaccine R&D.
To coordinate epidemic prevention and control efforts, China is ready to work with the two countries to strengthen regulation at entry and exit points, step up inspection and quarantine, and cut down unnecessary cross-border travels.
As the fight has come to a crucial stage at home, we still want to do as much as we can to help the ROK and Japan. “Are you not battle-dressed? Let us share armor and the rest!”. It is exactly how China, Japan and the ROK are looking after each other and tiding over difficulties together.
