According to the website of the Chinese Mission to the European Union on November 27, a spokesman for the European Mission to answer reporters’ questions on the European Parliament’s report on the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the foreign policy of the European Union.
Q: On November 25, the European Parliament issued the Report on the Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on the European Union’s Foreign Policy, criticizing the Chinese government’s early response to the COVID-19 epidemic, saying that China used the epidemic to expand its own impact, and calling on the European Union to re-examine EU-China relations. How does China comment on this?
A: The false content of the report related to China ignores the Chinese people’s anti-epidemic efforts and China-EU anti-epidemic cooperation, distorts China’s China’s development intentions, and negates China’s legitimate right to safeguard its sovereignty and security. We express our firm opposition.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, China has reported the epidemic for the first time, quickly taken strict measures to prevent and control the epidemic, and rushed to the international community, including the European Union and its member states, to comprehensively promote the resumption of work and production, making important contributions to the global fight against the epidemic and European economic recovery.
China’s development is for the 1.4 billion people to live a better life, which is a legitimate and reasonable appeal, which cannot be distorted or stopped. China has no intention to influence, interfere with and change who. There is no so-called geopolitical or even expansion intention. Similarly, China hopes that the European side will earnestly respect China’s core interests and major concerns and abide by the basic norms of international law and international relations such as non-interference in internal affairs.
The global epidemic is still continuing. China and the EU should establish and adhere to a correct understanding of each other and cooperate sincerely. There is an old Chinese saying, “Extinguish the fire with pay, the fire will not be exhausted, and the fire will not be extinguished”. If you don’t put down the old thinking mode and ideology, it’s like holding dry wood to put out the fire, which will only lead to the continuous spread of the fire, and ultimately harming China-EU relations and the interests of the people on both sides.
The biggest inspiration of the epidemic is to cooperate rather than isolate, trust rather than suspicion, and negotiate rather than slander. At present, the epidemic is still spreading around the world. We call on the European Parliament to be more inclusive and cooperative, less suspicious and blamed, and to defeat the real opponent of the virus as soon as possible through international cooperation.
