CIDCA spokesperson answers questions of Phoenix Television on China’s anti-pandemic foreign assistance

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread globally. Some countries and regions are undergoing a new round of outbreaks and the inequitable global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has worsened, making international anti-pandemic cooperation urgent.

How is China's anti-pandemic foreign assistance at present? What are the next steps the country is going to take? Tian Lin, spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), was interviewed by Phoenix Television on May 13.

Phoenix Television:

Hello Tian. Thank you for giving this interview to Phoenix Television. China has provided vaccine aid for many developing countries since the beginning of this year. Could you describe the updates of China's vaccine donation for foreign countries, and how is the effect?

Tian Lin:

I'm pleased to give you an interview. The foreign assistance of COVID-19 vaccines is the first large-scale Chinese vaccine assistance to foreign countries since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and represents an important action the Chinese government has taken to honor the commitment made by President Xi Jinping to make the COVID-19 vaccines global public goods. So far, we are providing vaccine assistance to more than 80 countries and international organizations and the vaccines are being delivered in an orderly way and on time.

At present, the fair global distribution of the vaccines is facing serious challenges and the “distribution deficit” keeps enlarging. Under the situation, China's vaccine assistance is “timely rain” for many developing countries. They described the assistance as “the light at the end of a tunnel” to boost their confidence and give them strength to defeat the pandemic. Many countries' leaders and people expressed their welcome and appreciation for our vaccine assistance.

Our assistance is also supported actively by people in China. Many netizens gave a thumbs up for China's vaccine assistance and some commented that this is the style of a big country and a great responsibility. People from other countries helped us when we were in the most difficult time of fighting the pandemic last year, so now we cannot be worldly-wise and make ourselves safe, some said. Some netizens said that helping others is helping ourselves in the face of the pandemic. All of these comments are a reflection of the ideal of the Chinese nation that all people under heaven are of one family and all nations should live in harmony, recognizing the commitment of the nation to help each other in times of trouble, and the sincerity of the Chinese people in reciprocating acts of friendship and kindness from others.

Phoenix Television:

How do you see the critics from the Western media on the Chinese vaccine assistance?

Tian Lin:

The Western media's critics can only represent themselves, but not the voices of developing countries and not even the international community. The critics fall into just two main categories. On the one hand, they say China is engaged in “vaccine diplomacy” and geopolitics; on the other hand, they say the China-made vaccines have problems in safety and effectiveness. Actually both arguments have broken down.

China's vaccine assistance has two aims: first is to save lives and second is to promote fairness. What we should oppose and boycott are “vaccine nationalism” and building “vaccination gaps”. China has donated and provided a large amount of vaccine for foreign countries since the beginning of the year and the vaccine's safety and effectiveness have stood the test of practice. On May 7, the World Health Organization (WHO) added the Sinopharm vaccine to its emergency use list, which is another proof that Chinese vaccines are safe and effective.

Phoenix Television:

Recently, the explosive growth of the pandemic in some South Asian countries has attracted great attention. Is the Chinese government also providing targeted assistance?

Tian Lin:

South Asian countries are China's close neighbors. The Chinese government is very concerned about the recent severe pandemic situation in some countries in the region. President Xi Jinping has sent a message of condolences to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As the pandemic evolves, these countries' anti-pandemic needs will not be limited to access to vaccines, but will also include more immediate assistance with prevention and treatment supplies. We have actively implemented the consensus reached at the recent video conference of the foreign ministers of China and five South Asian countries on COVID-19 and provided urgently needed anti-pandemic materials to Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India in accordance with the needs of the relevant countries to help them better cope with the pandemic.

Phoenix Television:

Apart from anti-pandemic assistance, is China providing any other forms of emergency humanitarian assistance recently?

Tian Lin:

At present, anti-pandemic cooperation is the most important part of China's emergency humanitarian assistance. However, we are also concerned about the humanitarian situation in other areas. A recent terrorist attack in northern Mozambique has triggered a humanitarian crisis and left a large number of people in need of help. On May 6, the Chinese government provided emergency humanitarian assistance to the people who fled their homes in northern Mozambique due to terrorist attacks. The assistance included rice, flour, cooking oil and other living materials, as well as some urgently needed pandemic prevention materials. We hope that through this tangible assistance the affected people in Mozambique will recover from the crisis at an early date.

Phoenix Television:

What are the main directions for our vaccine assistance and international development cooperation in the next step?

Tian Lin:

On April 26, State Councilor Wang Yi addressed the opening ceremony of the Exhibition of Achievements on China International Development Cooperation. He proposed four major directions for China's future development cooperation. First, we will give top priority to health and fully support international cooperation in fighting the pandemic. This is an integral part of the global fight against the pandemic and the building of a global community of health for all. Second, we will continue to implement the Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on green development. This is essential for us to construct a community of life for man and nature. Third, with people's well-being as our aim we will actively contribute to global economic recovery. This is an important direction that we have put forward in the post-pandemic era, and is consistent with the Communist Party China's philosophy of "putting the people first and putting life first". Fourth, we should continue to improve global governance in development cooperation under the guidance of multilateralism. This is a concrete manifestation of China's consistent foreign policy of multilateralism in the field of development cooperation. In the future, China will work with other countries in the four main directions mentioned above to advance international development cooperation and create a better world.

Phoenix Television:

Thank you for giving us this interview.

Tian Lin:

Thanks.