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April 29, 2021

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China meets neighbors on COVID-19 battle

Source: Xinhua | 00:00 UTC+8 April 29, 2021 | Print Edition

Foreign ministers from China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held a meeting on coping with COVID-19 on Tuesday via video link.

During the meeting, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi brought forward several proposals on such issues as consolidating consensus on cooperating in the fight against COVID-19, promoting vaccine cooperation, and boosting post-pandemic economic recovery, which were supported by the other foreign ministers.

The international community has spoken highly of the proposals, and lauded China for its contributions to the global and regional battle against the pandemic.

The resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Nepal started from early April.

The country’s health ministry said on Sunday that the total tally crossed the 300,000-mark with 3,122 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours. It also reported 28 new deaths, the highest in nearly five months.

Hemanta Chandra Ojha, an official at the health ministry, said due to the high number of hospitalized patients, hospital beds, particularly those in the 15 worst affected districts, are mostly occupied. In Sri Lanka, the number of the infected reached 102,376 on Tuesday after 997 new cases were reported a day earlier. There is reportedly a shortage of intensive care beds.

Total confirmed cases in Bangladesh have reached 748,628, with 11,150 deaths, while Pakistan has reported 804,939 cases with 17,329 deaths.

On Sunday, China handed over a batch of emergency food assistance to Afghanistan. At the ceremony in Kabul, Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu said China has provided more than 13,000 tons of food aid to Afghanistan in recent years, as well as several batches of medical supplies to fight COVID-19, and will donate vaccines soon.

In Pakistan, as the country is facing a serious third wave of COVID-19, the third batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government was handed over on Monday.

The vaccines will help the country build immunity among its society to save lives, said Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said Pakistan is not only the first country in the world that the Chinese government provided COVID-19 vaccine aid to, but also the country that has received the largest number of China-donated COVID-19 vaccines so far.

Nepal started administering the COVID-19 vaccines amid resurging cases this month, with a batch of doses developed by China’s Sinopharm having been delivered to Nepal in late March.

Sri Lanka’s president’s office has also said plans were ready to distribute the Sinopharm vaccine donated by China in the next few weeks following the World Health Organization’s approval.

Desperately lacking experience

At the early stage of the outbreak in Pakistan, the country had little expertise and few medical relief items, which made it struggle, said Saeed Chaudhry, director of the Islamabad Council for International Affairs.

“China sent medics, experts and relief goods in time, which helped Pakistan streamline and organize its fight against the pandemic backed by a comprehensive policy,” he said.

Muzaherul Huq, a former adviser to the WHO, said after the foreign ministers’ meeting that Bangladesh is “hopeful” of China’s proposals to control the pandemic and stabilize the economy.

Afghan expert and political analyst Shamsul Haq Arianfar welcomed China’s supply of vaccines, saying he and all Afghans would be grateful.

Ajith Dharmawardena, vice president of the Sri Lanka-China Buddhist Friendship Association, said the Chinese government, enterprises and people have provided a large number of medical materials to Sri Lanka to fight the pandemic, and people from all walks of life in Sri Lanka have also supported China in various ways.

In the past, whenever Sri Lanka encountered difficulties, the Chinese government and many ordinary Chinese have expressed their support in various ways, he said, adding the cooperation and mutual support during the COVID-19 pandemic have once again fully demonstrated that Sri Lanka and China are long-tested good friends.

Hiranya Lal Shrestha, Nepal’s former ambassador to Russia, said that during this pandemic, Nepal has benefited from China’s contributions in two aspects.

“First, it can learn from China’s exemplary strategy to contain the infections, and second, it can seek the support of the vaccines and other equipment as China is exporting them to the rest of the world.”

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