BEIJING — French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday that France will learn from China’s experience in fighting COVID-19 in a phone conversation with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Le Drian highly appreciated China’s basic victory in the battle against the coronavirus, sincerely thanked China for its provision of medical supplies to France and making allocations to meet France’s need for the procurement of medical supplies, and positively evaluated the anti-epidemic cooperation between the two countries.
The epidemic situation in France is on the rise, he said, adding that his country is willing to learn from China’s experience in preventing and containing the spread of the coronavirus and adopt strong and effective measures so as to win the fight against the epidemic at an early date.
For his part, Wang said that the world is seeing the outbreaks in multi points, and France is also facing the challenge of the epidemic, over which China extended sincere sympathies.
Wang expressed his belief that under the leadership of President Emmanuel Macron, France will definitely win the battle against the virus in the end.
China and France boast a tradition of supporting one another, Wang noted, adding that China will never forget the valuable support and help of France to the Chinese people in combating the coronavirus.
Out of the China-France friendship, China has overcomed difficulties to send a batch of medical supplies to France, Wand said. On the containers of these medical supplies wrote in Chinese “Though far away from each other, the friendship between China and France is more solid than gold and stone,” which vividly illustrated the friendship of sharing weal and woe and helping each other between the two peoples, he added.
China will do its utmost to offer necessary assistance to the French side with its need of procurement, strengthen the sharing of experience in health and epidemic prevention through video conference and other ways, and develop cooperation in prevention and control of emerging infectious disease, virology, vaccine research and other areas, Wang said.
Wang said the epidemic is the common enemy of mankind, which requires a joint response of the international community.
From the very beginning, China has shared information on fighting the epidemic with the international community in the spirit of openness and transparency and with a responsible attitude and won precious time for other countries to prevent and control the epidemic, Wang said.
Now, China, upholding the spirit of a community with a shared future for mankind, is providing different forms of support to nearly 100 countries to fight the epidemic, including donating much-needed medical supplies, sharing experience in the prevention and control, sending expert teams, he said.
Regrettably, some countries attempted to politicalize the epidemic, label the virus and stigmatize China, he said.
Such acts are not conducive to the unity of the international community and will severely hamper the joint efforts of all countries to deal with the epidemic, therefore they must be firmly and clearly resisted and opposed, he said.
Wang emphasized that a large number of overseas Chinese, including students, are working, living and studying in France.
As the messengers of China-France friendship, they are willing to make contributions to promoting bilateral cooperation, he said.
In face of challenges pose by the epidemic, the Chinese Embassy in France has provided and will continue to provide care and assistance to them, Wang said, expressing hope that the French government will pay close attention to their safety and health condition and provide them with necessary protection assistance and medical guarantee.
For his part, Jean-Yves Le Drian said that France attaches great importance to the health and safety of overseas Chinese people and will surely provide assistance and care for them, especially Chinese students.