03/04/2020
- ‘As two of the great countries on Earth, cooperation between China and the US could, and should, be used to bring a more positive outcome for all humankind,’ academics say
- ‘Political bickering does nothing to contribute to the healthy development of Sino-US relations, nor will it help the people of the world to rationally and accurately understand and cope with the pandemic,’ they say
Chinese academics have urged nations to cooperate to find a solution to the global public health crisis. Photo: AFP
A group of 100 Chinese scholars has signed an open letter calling on the
and China to put an end to their political blame game and work together to fight the
.
The signatories, who include former diplomats and academics from various fields, including political science, international relations and sociology, said that while the origins of the coronavirus remained unknown, hurling accusations achieved nothing but hurt.
Nations should stop “complaining, finger-pointing and blaming one another” and instead cooperate to find a solution to the global public health crisis, they said.
“Political bickering does nothing to contribute to the healthy development of Sino-US relations, nor will it help the people of the world to rationally and accurately understand and cope with the pandemic,” the scholars said in the letter published on Thursday in online news magazine The Diplomat.
“As two of the great countries on Earth, cooperation between China and the US could, and should, be used to bring a more positive outcome for all humankind,” it said.
The scholars also urged the two sides to put aside their bickering over where and how the disease originated.
“At this stage of the pandemic, the exact source and origin of Covid-19 remain undetermined, but these questions are unimportant and finger-pointing is demeaning and hurtful to everyone,” they said.
US and Chinese officials have sparred for weeks over the origins of the coronavirus, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of
Wuhan but has since spread around the world, infecting more than 1 million people and killing close to 53,000.
Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the pathogen as the “Chinese virus”. Photo: Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the pathogen as the “Chinese virus”, while other US politicians have said it was created in a Chinese laboratory. For China’s part, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested the coronavirus
might have been carried into the country by US soldiers.
China’s ambassador to the US
Cui Tiankai said in an interview on American television last month that speculating about the origin of the virus was “harmful”, but the finger-pointing on both sides has plunged relations between the two countries to a new low.
The open letter was the idea of Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, who said its aim was not only to show the willingness of China’s intellectual elite to promote solidarity and reduce tensions, but to make clear that the priority right now was saving lives.
“We did not criticise anyone in the letter, or mention any names. We did not want to fuel the current disputes and confrontations,” he said.
“Most Chinese intellectuals are peaceful, rational and constructive, and thankfully we quickly reached consensus on the content of the letter.”
China to stage day of mourning for thousands killed by Covid-19
The scholars said that after months of battling the coronavirus and seeing the situation at home improve, China now wanted to share its experience and knowledge with other countries as they seek to contain its spread.
“Chinese people have made unimaginable efforts and sacrifices to achieve hard-won results,” Wang said.
“We are grateful for the support of the international community, including donations from American friends, during the most critical stage of the fight … and we are willing to share our experiences with other countries and provide all available assistance to them.”
Wu Sike, a former Chinese special envoy to the Middle East, was among the signatories to the open letter. Photo: Xinhua
Among the other signatories were Wu Sike, a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies and former special envoy to the Middle East, and Wang Yiwei, an international relations professor at Renmin University, who described the Covid-19 pandemic as a “global issue that overrides geopolitics concerns”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump agreed in a telephone call last week to work together to contain the spread of Covid-19, but critics have questioned how long their cordiality can last against a backdrop of rising China-US tensions over trade, the media and regional security.
Source: SCMP
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31/03/2020
Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visits a tea farm in Huangjingtang Village in Xianning City, central China’s Hubei Province, March 31, 2020. Sun, who is leading a central guiding group to oversee the epidemic control work in Hubei, inspected spring plowing and production resumption in Xianning on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Li He)
WUHAN, March 31 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan Tuesday called for efforts to organize spring plowing and help enterprises resume work and production.
Leading a central guiding group to oversee the epidemic control work in Hubei Province, the previous epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic, Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while inspecting spring plowing and production resumption in the Hubei city of Xianning.
The group visited a tea farm and two enterprises in the city.
While ensuring the epidemic control, efforts should also be made to capitalize on the window for spring plowing, Sun said, urging strengthened farm management, detailed technical guidance for farmers, convenient transportation for agricultural materials and more help for Hubei to sell farm products.
Sun also stressed that during this critical period to resume work and production, the supporting measures for industries should be improved to provide more driving forces for enterprises.
Preferential policies for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises should be fully implemented, Sun noted, adding that the problems of local authorities and enterprises should be solved in a timely manner.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in Chinese Vice Premier, COVID-19 epidemic, epicenter, hubei province, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, production, resumption, spring plowing, Uncategorized, urges, Xianning |
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11/03/2020
GENEVA, March 10 (Xinhua) — China urges relevant parties to immediately lift unilateral sanctions against Iran to prevent further harm to the human rights of the Iranian people, a senior Chinese diplomat has said.
Liu Hua, Special Representative for Human Rights of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told the on-going 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday that imposing external mechanisms without the consent of the countries concerned is not conducive to dialogue and cooperation, and does not play a role in promoting and protecting human rights.
Liu said that the international community should treat the human rights situation of Iran in an objective and fair manner, understand the challenges Iran faces as a developing country in promoting and protecting human rights, and listen more to the Iranian government and the demands of its people.
The unilateral sanctions imposed by relevant countries on Iran have had a significant negative impact on the human rights of the Iranian people, and have also restricted the United Nations and other organizations from providing humanitarian assistance to Iran, she said.
The Chinese diplomat highlighted that it is crucial time at this moment for the Iranian government and its people to fight the COVID-19 epidemic.
“China is providing support to the Iranian side within its capacity, including providing testing kits and other anti-epidemic materials, and sending a team of volunteer experts to help Iran fight the epidemic. China also calls on all parties to strengthen cooperation with Iran on epidemic prevention,” Liu said.
She also highlighted that China has always advocated that all countries should address human rights issues through constructive dialogue and cooperation, oppose politicization, selectivity, double standards, and confrontational practices, and does not support the practice of “naming and shaming” and publicly pressuring.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in "naming and shaming", against, China, COVID-19 epidemic, Human rights, immediately lift, international community, iran, relevant parties, Special Representative for Human Rights, UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Uncategorized, unilateral sanctions, urges |
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15/10/2019
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnamese President and Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has called for restraint in the disputed South China Sea amid a tense months-long standoff between Chinese and Vietnamese ships, state media reported on Tuesday.
China claims almost all the energy-rich waters but neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
Tension escalated when Beijing dispatched a research ship to conduct an energy survey in waters controlled by Vietnam in July.
“On the subject of foreign policy, including the East Sea issue, the General Secretary stressed the importance of maintaining a peaceful and stable environment, and resolutely fighting to protect Vietnam’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the state-run Voice of Vietnam (VOV) said on its website.
The South China Sea is known as the East Sea in Vietnam.
Vietnam has good relations with China but should “never compromise” on its sovereignty and territorial integrity, VOV quoted Trong as saying.
The Chinese vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, was continuing its survey in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone late on Tuesday, under escort from at least three Chinese ships, according to data from Marine Traffic, a website that tracks vessel movements.
Vietnam’s foreign ministry has repeatedly accused the vessel and its escorts of violating its sovereignty and has demanded that China remove its ships from the area.
On Sunday, Vietnam pulled DreamWorks’ animated film “Abominable” from cinemas over a scene featuring a map which shows China’s unilaterally declared “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea.
The U-shaped line is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims, including large swathes of Vietnam’s continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.
In August, police broke up a brief protest outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi over the survey vessel.
Trong has made more public appearances in recent weeks after suffering from an unspecified illness..
The 75-year-old has presided over a widespread crackdown on corruption in the Southeast Asian country that has seen several high-ranking ministers and politicians, including one Politburo member, sent to prison on charges ranging from embezzlement to economic mismanagement.
Source: Reuters
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27/06/2019
- Joyce Msuya of the UN Environment Programme is full of praise for Beijing’s success in tackling air pollution but says there is work still to be done
- Commitment to environmental protection seen at home must be extended to infrastructure projects developed overseas, she says
Joyce Msuya, acting head of the UN Environment Programme, says bad infrastructure can have a negative environmental impact. Photo: Simon Song
The United Nations’ environment chief has appealed to China to apply the same environmental standards to infrastructure projects it develops overseas under its Belt and Road Initiative as it does to those built on its own soil.
“We know from history, bad infrastructure can lead to negative environmental impact,” said Joyce Msuya, acting executive director of the UN Environment Programme. “Given China’s record on and interest in environmental protection, we hope and expect they will apply the same spirit as they invest in developing countries.”
While acknowledging the value of infrastructure building in developing nations, Msuya said it was equally important to consider the environmental implications of
“We are interested in working with member countries that have been beneficiaries [of Chinese investment] to see what concerns, if any, what risks, if any, they see,” she said in an interview on the sidelines of an event in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang province, to mark World Environment Day, which fell on Wednesday.
Scores of countries are involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar belt and road plan in one way or another, but as it has expanded so too have the concerns over its environmental impact.
In late 2017, the WWF issued a report claiming that the development of two motorway projects in Myanmar would have a negative environmental impact on about half of its population.
China ‘facing uphill struggle’ in fight against pollution
On China’s efforts to tackle pollution at home, Msuya said that although the move towards a greener economy might require communities to make sacrifices in the short term, these would be outweighed by the long-term benefits.
China has been fighting a “war on pollution” since 2013 but as
have grown so too have concerns that industry unfriendly environmental efforts might be relegated to the back burner. The nation’s gross domestic product grew by just 6.6 per cent in 2018, its slowest rate since 1990, and for the past year it has been embroiled in a stinging trade war with the United States.
China has been fighting a “war on pollution” since 2013. Photo: Simon Song
Msuya said that while Beijing had done a good job in improving air quality, it still had some way to go on issues like water, soil and noise pollution.
“China is quite diverse, with many provinces … so the scale of the challenge of dealing with pollution is more complex,” she said. “[But] by building on its experience of cleaning the air, I have full confidence in the Chinese government.”
Pollution in northern China up 16 per cent in January as industrial activity spikes
According to a report issued by Beijing on Wednesday, average levels of PM2.5 – the tiny airborne particles that are particularly harmful to health – in more than 70 cities across
China fell by an average of 42 per cent in the five years through 2018.
Smog levels in the Chinese capital fell 43 per cent in the period, but the average reading in the city last year was still more than five times the World Health Organisation’s recommended safe level.
Air quality was the main theme of the Hangzhou event.
Msuya has first-hand experience of Beijing’s air quality having worked in the city as the World Bank Group’s regional coordinator for East Asia and the Pacific between 2011 and 2014.
“When I moved to Beijing in 2011, I honestly didn’t know how bad the air pollution was.
My son was six at the time and I always made sure he wore a mask when he went out to play,” she said.
“Fast forward to now, and China has shown us that the problem of air pollution can be tackled if everyone participates.”
Source: SCMP
Posted in air pollution, belt and road plan, belt and road projects, China alert, green and clean, Hangzhou, infrastructure projects, mask, UN Environment Programme, UN’s environment chief, Uncategorized, United States, urges, World Environment Day, WWF, Zhejiang, zhejiang province |
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