Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary Conference on COVID-19 on April 28 in Beijing.
Wang Yi stressed that we the BRICS countries must support UN bodies in playing their due roles in fighting COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) is a central force in coordinating the global response, and is indispensable for helping developing countries, especially our African brothers and sisters, in fighting the disease.
Supporting the WHO helps us save more lives, treat more patients; it enables a more effective response against the virus and is conducive to pooling global strength. At a crucial moment in humanity’s joint fight against the virus, any attempt to undercut the WHO’s authority and obstruct its role will be most ill-timed and will find no support in the international community.
Wang Yi said, on top of paying its assessed contributions to the WHO on time and in full, China donated US$20 million to the WHO, and this was followed by another donation of US$30 million announced just a few days ago. We will also provide financial support to the UN’s Global Humanitarian Response Plan, and do everything within our capacity to lessen the debt burden on African countries and assist them in boosting anti-epidemic capacity. In view of the weaknesses and inadequacies exposed during this crisis, we also need to enhance global public health governance, make it a higher priority on the international agenda, and work together to build a community of health for all.
