(By Li Jie, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia)
On August 5, 2021, H.E. Mr. Xi Jinping, President of the People' s Republic of China, announced that China will strive to provide two billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world throughout this year and offer 100 million U.S. dollars to the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility during the First Meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation. This is another major move for China to honor its commitment of making vaccines a global public good, and also allow it to make new contribution to the global cooperation against COVID-19. The Joint Statement of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation adopted by the meeting calls upon all states to stay away from "vaccine nationalism", put people and life first, work in solidarity and coordination responding to challenges of the pandemic.
The novel coronavirus is still going viral around the world, and the variants spread globally with acceleration. There are still such outstanding problems as insufficient vaccine production capacity, inequitable distribution, and uneven vaccination. The politicization and stigmatization of pandemic gain no support but still exist. These bring huge challenges to global solidarity against COVID-19. China always stands on the level of defending the safety and health of all people, deepens the international anti-pandemic cooperation, and makes great contribution to building the global health community for all. China has provided vaccines assistance to over 100 countries and international organizations and provides more than 800 million vaccine doses to over 60 countries. China is also working with over 10 developing countries including Egypt and the UAE on technology transfer and joint production to quickly advance large-scale production of vaccines.
China has all along attached high importance to and taken an active part in science-based origin-tracing. China reported the situation to the WHO, published the genome sequencing of the novel coronavirus at the first instance available, and invited WHO experts to China twice for origin-tracing research. This March, the WHO officially released the Joint Report by the WHO-China joint study team, which provides the most authoritative, professional and science-based conclusions on origin-tracing, including COVID-19 introduction through a laboratory incident is "extremely unlikely", there is "no indication" that the virus was circulating in Wuhan before December 2019, providing specific suggestions like recommending conducting further research around earlier cases globally.
Origin-tracing is a matter of science. It should be and can only be left to scientists to identify the virus's zoonotic source and animal-human transmission routes. The Chinese side will work with other parties to carry out science-based global origin-tracing with a scientific attitude, and contribute China's part to humanity's final victory over COVID-19. On the basis of respecting the first phase's conclusive findings, Chinese experts call upon conducting science-based origin-tracing in various countries and regions, which should be guided by the WHA resolution, based on evidence and rely mainly on scientists.
China and Zambia have backed each other to tide over the difficulties together by offering assistance to each other, and set an example of international cooperation in containing coronavirus. At the early stage of its battle against the coronavirus, China received valuable support from Zambia and other African countries. When Zambia was hit by the virus, China felt keenly for it and actively provided material assistance, including masks, ventilators and 100,000 doses of vaccines. Health experts in China and the Chinese medical team in Zambia helped Zambia strengthen its capacity to fight the Covid-19 by sharing experiences in epidemic prevention. The Chinese community and businesses in Zambia have donated funds and goods worth more than 25 million Kwacha. The Chinese oxygen and alcohol production companies have overcome difficulties and worked overtime to ensure market supply in Zambia. To keep the workers well-protected and fully-employed, Chinese companies have chosen to overcome difficulties with local communities, which provided strong support for Zambia to fight the virus and stabilize the economy. The "all-weather" friendship between China and Zambia has stood the test of the pandemic and been further consolidated and developed.
The virus knows no borders and does not distinguish between races. We are convinced that only unity and cooperation can defeat the aggressive virus. We look forward to working with Zambia and other members of the international community to deepen solidarity and cooperation in the spirit of openness, transparency, science and cooperation. We will continue to create a sound environment for global solidarity and cooperation in fighting the pandemic, and make greater contribution to the steady growth of the world economy and the building of a global community of health for all.