THE novel coronavirus is the common enemy of mankind, and unity and cooperation are the most advantageous weapons to defeat the virus, said Wang Yi, Chinese State councilor and foreign minister, at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China’s top lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress (NPC), in Beijing yesterday.

“The most important thing we could learn from COVID-19 is that the life and health of people in different countries have never been so closely connected. Also, it has never been made so clear that all nations live in the same global village and that humanity is, in fact, a community with a shared future,” Wang said.

Wang paid high respect to health-care workers around the globe fighting COVID-19 and expressed deep condolences over the lives lost during the pandemic.

Wang  thanked governments and people across the world that have offered their understanding, care and help to China amid the coronavirus outbreak.

China has always been open to joint efforts by the international science community to identify the source of the virus, and believes that the process must be professional, impartial and constructive, and should “be free from political interference, respect the sovereign equality of nations, and avoid a presumption of guilt.”

Commenting on the U.S. bashing of the World Health Organization (WHO), Wang stressed the WHO’s international role in global health issues, saying to support the WHO is to support saving lives.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has done a good job and countries with decency will support the body, Wang said.

“As for the WHO’s international standing and its place in history, I’m sure clear-eyed people the world over will reach a fair conclusion, one that will not be altered just because some country doesn’t like it,” Wang added.

Those who throw mud at the WHO will only leave a stain on themselves, said Wang.

Wang said a “political virus” is spreading in the United States alongside the coronavirus, slamming some U.S. politicians for “jumping at any opportunity” to attack China.

“Some political forces in the U.S. are taking China-U.S. relations hostage and pushing us two countries to the brink of a ‘new Cold War.’ This is a dangerous attempt to turn back the wheel of history,” Wang said.

Acknowledging that the two countries have different social systems, he said: “This is the result of the different choices made by our peoples, which we must respect.”   (Continued on P5)

“China has no intention to change, still less replace, the U.S.,” Wang said. “It’s time for the U.S. to give up its wishful thinking of changing China or stopping the 1.4 billion Chinese people’s historical march toward modernization.”

The two countries “should and must find a way of peaceful co-existence and mutually beneficial cooperation,” said the diplomat.

China will defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, its legitimate right to development and its dignity and position in the world, Wang stressed.

Meanwhile, he said the COVID-19 epidemic is the common enemy of China and the Unites States, and it is the shared wish of both countries’ people to support and help each other.

Responding to questions about China’s Taiwan, Wang stressed that reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is the trend of history. No individual or force can stop it from happening, he said.

Wang also urged the U.S. side to fully appreciate the great sensitivity of the Taiwan question.

“We advise the U.S. side to ditch its illusions and political calculations. We ask the U.S. side not to make any attempt to challenge China’s red line,” Wang noted.

At the beginning of the outbreak, some U.S. entrepreneurs, associations and people helped China. China has also donated a large number of medical materials as the U.S. is battling the pandemic.

Talking about China’s relationship with Africa, Wang said China is working with other G20 members to implement the debt service suspension initiative to ease Africa’s debt burden and it mulls further bilateral support for African countries to fight against COVID-19.

China has sent medical expert teams to Africa’s five sub-regions and their neighboring countries and has conducted nearly 400 training sessions in Africa for around 20,000 local medical workers as part of sharing anti-epidemic experience, according to Wang.

More than 12 billion masks have been exported to the U.S. from the Chinese side, which means 40 masks for every American, according to Wang.

Wang also warned that a “political virus” that wastes no chance to attack and smear China is spreading in the United States.

Some U.S. political forces are hijacking China-U.S. relations, and efforts should be made to stop the dangerous practice, he said.

“Both China and the U.S. stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation; this best captures what we have learned, positive and otherwise, from the past decades. Both sides should take this lesson to heart,” Wang stressed.

(SD-Xinhua)