The general secretary of the Permanent Forum Secretariat of Macau, Xu Yingzhen, urged this Tuesday to establish “a greater synergy between multilateral cooperation and bilateral cooperation” of the members of the group to stop the expansion of COVID-19 “through cooperation in traditional medicine ”.
Xu Yingzhen was one of the participants in the online seminar “International Cooperation against COVID-19”, organized by the Consulate General of China in Rio de Janeiro, in which he assured that the Permanent Secretariat of the Macau Forum will continue to bridge the gap between China and Portuguese-speaking countries (PLPs) to fight the pandemic together.
Speaking to the public that included the Chinese ambassador to Brazil, Yang Wanming, the consul general in Rio de Janeiro, Li Yang and several Brazilian officials, the secretary recalled that “the COVID-19 epidemic did not only bring an enormous health risk and to the lives of human beings, but it also has painful implications for the socioeconomic sector and the daily lives of the peoples of the world. COVID-19 created a global crisis and unprecedented challenges. That is why it is imperative for all countries to engage together in dialogue and cooperation to win this battle against COVID-19 in the international community with united forces. ”
In this sense, he added that “it is essential to call international cooperation seminars against COVID-19, with the participation of several institutions”, citing among them, the Chinese embassy in Brazil, the Chinese consulate general in Rio de Janeiro , the foreign affairs office of the Sichuan Province government, as well as other departments of Brazil’s regional governments.
Xu Yingzhen recalled that “since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Chinese government has been adopting, with firm determination and resolute courage, the prevention and control measures of COVID-19 in the most comprehensive, rigorous and complete way” and pointed out that “despite the enormous cost and sacrifice, the Chinese people responded with solidarity ”.
“All efforts were aimed at effectively containing the transmission of the virus, obtaining the great victory against the expansion of COVID-19 and resuming the normality of production and daily life in the country,” added the secretary, who also stressed that “the experiences and China’s successful practices in fighting the virus have provided a valuable reference to other countries ”.
According to Xu Yingzhen, “for adhering to the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity, China not only continues to strive to contain the epidemic in the country, but also offers assistance to other countries in combating COVID-19, standing out sending medical teams, offering epidemic prevention and control materials and sharing information and treatment experiences obtained around the world ”.
Specifically mentioning China’s relations with Portuguese-speaking countries, the general secretary of the Macau Forum highlighted the “numerous cooperation initiatives throughout this war against COVID-19”, citing that several government departments, companies, institutions , as well as the people of those countries “provided valuable support to China at the height of the spread of the virus in the country”.
“The government of China, as well as companies, and Chinese communities abroad are also united to give back with concrete actions that help these countries to stop the epidemic. This constitutes a living portrait of the joint construction of the Community with a Shared Sino-Lusophone Future ”, he added.
Among China’s aid initiatives, Xu Yingzhen pointed out that large Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shenyang, “proactively launched initiatives to donate prevention materials to their ‘sister cities’ in Portugal and in Brazil, including masks, protective equipment and detection kits ”.
“The Chinese government has made 40 tons of prevention materials available, mainly respirators, N-95 masks, protective equipment and gloves, to the 18 countries in West Africa, including Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe. The Jack Ma and Alibaba foundations, in turn, donated medical supplies to PLPs in several lots ”.
“In addition, other Chinese companies, such as the Bank of China, Fosun Pharmaceutical and China Three Gorges Corporation also offered medical supplies to Portugal. Vila Huaxi of Jiangsu Province and Derom Medical Group donated a batch of medical supplies to Mozambique and, in the case of Timor-Leste, China was the first country to charter planes to transport medical supplies to the country, ”added the secretary.
Specifically to Brazil, she pointed out that “at the time of the severe shortage of medical supplies, China responded promptly to Brazil’s request, fulfilling a large number of orders for medical supplies, which totaled 960 tons transported on 40 flights.”
The general secretary of the Macau Forum stressed the need to “establish greater synergy between multilateral cooperation and bilateral cooperation in order to contain the epidemic through cooperation in traditional medicine”.
For Xu Yingzhen, the advances made by jointly promoting “combating the epidemic, complemented by traditional medicine, within the framework of multilateral cooperation” should be shared. He stressed that the Permanent Secretariat “is currently cooperating with the Chinese Consulate General in Rio da Janeiro to make available a series of promotional videos on “Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 with Traditional Medicine” on the Permanent Secretariat’s website, to disseminate the therapeutic experiences to the participating parts of the Macau Forum.
Xu Yingzhen also defended the need to “strengthen economic and trade cooperation in the post-epidemic period to jointly face the impacts on the economic sector” and considered it “imperative to call upon the entire international community to jointly face the economic recession and promote the resumption of the economy in the post-epidemic period ”.
According to the secretary, “the participants in the Macau Forum should further strengthen cooperation in various areas of the socio-economic sector, taking full advantage of the institutional mechanism of the Macau Forum and the role of Macau as a Platform in the preparation of the 6th Ministerial Conference”.
Xu Yingzhen also defended “to discuss the creation of a cooperative mechanism in response to public health incidents, with a comprehensive assessment of the experiences and lessons learned in the fight against COVID-19, to reinforce the exchange of information and cooperation in the response to emergencies caused for public health incidents ”.
The Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau Forum) is a multilateral mechanism for intergovernmental cooperation. It was created in 2003 at the initiative of the Chinese government, in coordination with eight countries: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.
