A worker unloads medical supplies brought by a medical team from China to Malaysia at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, April 18, 2020. (Chinese Embassy in Malaysia/Handout via Xinhua)
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, China has provided assistance to over 150 countries and 10 international organizations, sent 36 medical teams to 34 countries in need since the outbreak, and offered other countries more than 200 billion masks, 2 billion protective suits and 800 million testing kits.
China has joined COVAX, a global initiative backed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and promised to make the country's COVID-19 vaccines, once available, a "global public good" in a bid to ensure vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.
In the face of the invisible virus, no one is safe until everyone is safe, said Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, adding that Xi pointed out the right antidote to uprooting the virus and shed light on the future direction for international anti-pandemic efforts.
Thanks to China's advocacies and actions, the construction of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters started this year; war-torn Iraq has its most advanced CT scanners for cases confirmation; and Laos was equipped with an advanced laboratory to improve nucleic acid testing capacity in the country.
Echoing China's proposal, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "One thing that we would ask is unity at the national level, and solidarity at the global level. More than ever, the human race should stand together to defeat this virus."
