China pledges to pull its weight in COVID-19 fight

China will fully implement the measures announced by President Xi Jinping on international cooperation on fighting COVID-19, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday.

Wang made the remarks at the High-level Video Conference on Poverty Eradication and South-South Cooperation.

In the face of the outbreak of the pandemic, China has launched the largest-ever emergency humanitarian campaign since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Wang said.

China has dispatched 34 medical teams to 32 countries, and it has offered 283 batches of anti-pandemic aid to 150 countries and four international organizations, he said.

China will fully implement the measures announced by President Xi at the 73th General Assembly of the World Health Organization and at the general debate of the 75th United Nations General Assembly, Wang said.

China will provide $2 billion of international aid this year, build 30 cooperation links between China and African countries, and make efforts to set up a global humanitarian response depot and hub in China, he said.

Several COVID-19 vaccines developed by China are in Phase III clinical trials, and when they are available for use, these vaccines will be made a global public good, and they will be provided to other developing countries on a priority basis, Wang said.

China will provide another $50 million to the UN COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, providing $50 million to the China-FAO South-South Cooperation Trust Fund (Phase III) and extending the Peace and Development Trust Fund between the UN and China by five years after it expires in 2025, he said, adding that all of these measures announced by Xi will be implemented by China without any discount.