China's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) Zhang Jun on Thursday called on countries to uphold true multilateralism.
He made the appeal in a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi about the global refugee status quo facing COVID-19.
Zhang said the world is undergoing both a global health crisis caused by COVID-19 and a crisis of multilateralism due to the impact of unilateralism.
The world is far from peaceful, and unilateralism is never gone, Zhang said, noting that some countries, under the guise of multilateralism, have practiced power politics and bloc confrontation, unleashing more dangerous and destructive impacts.
Zhang called on all countries to join hands to uphold true multilateralism and oppose the politicization of humanitarian issues and unilateral sanctions.
China will continue to support the UN refugee agency and other multilateral bodies in carrying out humanitarian operations for the protection of refugees and other vulnerable groups following the UN guiding principles of humanitarian assistance, said Zhang.
Giving an update on the UN agency's priorities, Grandi said that the COVID-19 pandemic has had serious impacts on refugees around the world, and he looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China and other parties to jointly address the challenges.
