AFP: Can you comment on the EU meeting yesterday about the China-EU investment deal? Will China and the EU hold an online summit to approve the deal this week?
Wang Wenbin: Negotiations on a China-EU investment agreement are the most important agenda item in current China-EU economic and trade relations. Thanks to the joint efforts made by both, major progress has been made in the recent talks and the prospect is inspiring. We hope the agreement can be concluded at an early date so as to provide institutional guarantee for China-EU economic and trade cooperation, and deliver tangible benefits to companies and people on both sides.
Mainichi Shimbun: According to reports, there are some allegedly made-in-China vaccines circulating outside China. Is the Chinese government aware of it and planning to act on it?
Wang Wenbin: China attaches high importance to the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines during research and development. We have been strictly following international norms, laws and regulations. The Chinese vaccine companies have been advancing R&D based on science and regulations. China manages COVID-19 vaccines in a very rigorous manner. We will combat criminal activities like illegal distribution of vaccines, and guarantee safe and secure vaccine R&D, manufacturing, distribution and inoculation.
Associated Press of Pakistan: Yesterday the 6th CPEC Media Forum was held online and offline simultaneously in Beijing and Islamabad. Senior government officials, intellectuals and a number of media persons attended. Do you have any comment?
Wang Wenbin: The Sixth China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Media Forum, hosted by the Chinese embassy in Pakistan and organized by China Economic Net and Pakistan-China Institute, was convened online and offline on December 28. This virtual event was attended by around 100 participants including diplomatic envoys from both sides, Pakistani officials, and Chinese and Pakistani representatives from the media, think tanks and universities. Under the theme of “Post-epidemic China-Pakistan Media Cooperation”, attendees had in-depth discussions on topics such as promoting friendship and cooperation between China and Pakistan, and showing the true, mutually beneficial nature of CPEC cooperation. You may read the press release published by the Chinese embassy in Pakistan for more details.
We hope friends from the press in both countries will continue to play their bonding role to tell the story of China-Pakistan cooperation and consolidate our iron-clad friendship.
Phoenix TV: It has been almost a year since the coronavirus pandemic first broke out. Some foreign media say the Chinese government tried to cover up the coronavirus pandemic when it first broke out. What’s the ministry’s comment on this?
Wang Wenbin: There’s a clear timeline of China’s effort to fight COVID-19, which is open and transparent. At the earliest time possible we reported the epidemic to the WHO, identified the pathogen and shared its genome sequence with the world, and we shared our information and containment experience of the virus with other countries and regions in a timely manner. These are facts that can stand the test of time. Accusations of “China covering up the epidemic” are simply groundless.
I’d like to stress that China was among the first to have put the virus under control, to have resumed work and production, and to have realized economic stability and recovery. China enjoys stable and orderly socio-economic development and our people enjoy safety, health and freedom. Faced with the once-in-a-century pandemic, can such achievements ever be made by covering up the truth? The answer is simple enough. China’s achievements in fighting the pandemic are the best response to the fallacy of “China concealing the virus”.