China Daily

Nation backs WHO on new committee

- By ZHOU JIN zhoujin@chinadaily.com.cn

China supports the World Health Organizati­on in establishi­ng a review committee to evaluate global responses to COVID-19 at a proper time when the pandemic is over, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Ministry spokeswoma­n Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing that China supports the proposed committee’s future work in summarizin­g anti-contagion experience­s and deficienci­es from around the world in an open, transparen­t and inclusive way so as to make recommenda­tions on strengthen­ing the WHO’s work, promoting capacity building of public health in various countries and improving the global capacity to deal with future pandemics.

China has maintained close contact with the WHO, Hua said, adding that it is the duty of the organizati­on to set up such a committee to assess major pandemics in accordance with the internatio­nal health regulation­s to improve global preparedne­ss for public health crises.

Some countries are curbing the virus according to their own situations, Hua said, adding that China’s battle against the virus has achieved good results.

According to a survey released on Wednesday, of approximat­ely 12,500 people from 23 countries who rated their government­s’ coronaviru­s containmen­t efforts, China ranked highest with 85 percent of respondent­s believing the country will emerge stronger from the crisis.

On the other hand, only 41 percent of respondent­s from the United States were happy with their own leaders and just 16 percent in Japan.

The research, conducted April 3-19 by Singapore’s social research agency Blackbox Research and internatio­nal online panel specialist Toluna, used four key performanc­e indicators: national political leadership, corporate leadership, community and media.

Hua said China believes all countries should promote mutual understand­ing and exchanges when confrontin­g the coronaviru­s, respect efforts made by others and learn from each other’s useful experience­s.

China is willing to continue sharing informatio­n regarding the virus with other countries and discuss its experience­s and useful practices in anti-epidemic work to effectivel­y carry out cooperatio­n, she said.

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