On 21st April 2020, Ambassador Li Minggang gave an exclusive interview to Al-Majlis TV channel run by the Kuwait National Assembly on China's experiences in fighting COVID-19 and delveopments of China-Kuwait anti-epidemic cooperation, calling on the international community's concerted efforts to work as one and tide over the difficulties.
Regarding Chinese experiences in epidemic response, Ambassador Li said that the Chinese government has always put people's health and safety in the first place since the emergence of COVID-19 epidemic. With this in mind, China established a unified nation-widechain of commandunder the direction and deployment of Chinese President Xi Jinping to mobilize the nation's medical and human resources to the epicenter HubeijingProvince, especially Wuhan, to help fight against COVID-19. After discovering the high infectivity of the virus, the Chinese central government decisively adopted the most comprehensive measures to put Wuhan, a big city with a population of over 10 million, and Hubei Province, the epicenter with more than 59 million people, into virtual lockdown. Results shows that over 90% of the total infection and death was recorded in Hubei Province, which prevented the large-scale spread of the virus to other areas and abroad. We would like to express our deep gratitude to all Chinese people for their cooperation and strong commitment to the government's preventive measures as well as their sacrifices. At present, China's fight against COVID-19 has made significant outcomes -- even in the epicenter Hubei Province, the number of existing infected cases remains less than 100 and no increase has been recorded for the past days, while we still maintain vigilance and take measures to respond to the increase of imported cases, which amounts to about 1600 so far.
Talking about Kuwait's counter-measures in response to COVID-19, Ambassador Li hailed the measures taken by the Kuwaiti government as impressive from some aspects. Firstly, following the speech of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on 22nd March, the Kuwaiti government, National Assembly and people united as one to face the challenge. Two days ago, I went for groceries at a Co-operative Society, and saw many Kuwaiti youths volunteering, andI could see that the younger generation, as the future of the State, owns a high sense of responsibility. Secondly, the Kuwaiti government led by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah has responded to the health crisis in a scientific and professional manner. From the beginning, Kuwait was fully prepared by making use of the precious "window of time" bought by China, which laid a foundation for systematically adopting the preventive measures. Staff from the medical frontline, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government agencies have stuck to their posts and made selfless contributions. I am also impressed that the Kuwaiti government offered same professional treatment to expatriates in Kuwait without distinctions. Thirdly, Kuwait has actively been engaged in international cooperation by a generous donation of 60 million US dollars to the World Health Organization (WHO) with an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and support the leading role of the WHO.
With regard to China-Kuwait anti-epidemic cooperation, Ambassador Li affirmed that the Chinese people and the Kuwaiti people are good brothers, and our two countries are strategic partners, which has been reflected in the current fight against COVID-19.President Xi Jinping and His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent cables to express solidarity and support to each other amid the challenging time. At a critical moment of China's battle against the epidemic, Kuwait donated 3 million US dollars of medical supplies to China, and the Chinese side facilitated the Kuwaiti side in procuring medical supplies from China in return. Not long ago, the Chinese Embassy in Kuwait invited health experts from Shanghai and organized a video conference between Shanghai experts and the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health, where both side conducted in-depth exchanges on topics including prevention and control of epidemic and treatment protocols. In addition, both sides are working on the arrival of a Chinese medical expert team to jointly fight against COVID-19. Ambassador Li further stressed that both China and Kuwait share a common understanding that virus knows no national borders, and we could only win the battle with concerted efforts from the international community. Helping others is helping ourselves, while playing the blame game makes does not help to combat the epidemic.
Al-Majlis TV channel is the Kuwait National Assembly's official TV channel with a broad audience in its commentaryprogramme.