On 25 August 2020, Ambassador Li Minggang gave an exclusive live interview on Kuwait TV English Channel's "Sunshine" program on topics including China's effective response to COVID-19, latest updates on China's COVID-19 vaccine development, China's economy in wake of the pandemic, and China-Kuwait anti-epidemic cooperation.
At the outset, Ambassador Li elaborated on China's successful experience and practices for fighting against COVID-19 by citing examples. Li said that, in the face of an unknown virus and sudden outbreak, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government has always put people's safety and health first and taken decisive steps to counter the epidemic. China's strategic victory over COVID-19 at the first stage is attribute to President Xi Jinping's personal command and response planning, robust measures such as lockdown, and the resilience and great sacrifices of all fellow Chinese people. Two months ago when a cluster outbreak broke out in Beijing caused by sporadic cases, we fully harnessed the our accumulated COVID-19 experience and brought the outbreak under control within only 26 days by extensive sampling, epidemiological investigations and mass public PCR testing. The outbreak in China has been generally under control, except for imported cases with daily double-digit increase. China's effort has now turned to prevent both inbound cases and domestic resurgence, in order to preserve the hard-won gains in the fight against COVID-19.
When asked about China's COVID-19 vaccine research and development, Ambassador Li said that thanks to the hard work of the Chinese scientists, China is the frontrunner in the development of COVID-19 vaccine. According to the WHO statistics in early August, three out of the six vaccine candidates in phase-3 trials are from China. The world's first and largest inactivated COVID-19 vaccine factory was built in Beijing, and another one in Wuhan will be ready for delivery and use soon. With these two plants, the total production capacity is expected to reach 220 million doses per year. Given its important role in the global fight against COVID-19, vaccine should belong to all humankind. At the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly, President Xi Jinping solemnly pledged that China will make its COVID-19 vaccine a global public good once available. This will be China's contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.
As for China's economy during the pandemic, Ambassador Li said that, China's economy was impacted by the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, where its GDP declined 6.8% in Q1. However, our economy rebounded with a year-on-year GDP growth rate of 3.2% in the second quarter, demonstrating the strong resilience of the Chinese economy. Foreign investors, including the Kuwaiti investor, are optimistic about the economic outlook of China. The digital-based new industries, new forms of business and new models have outperformed and gained rapid growth amid the pandemic, providing solid support for the economic recovery.
Ambassador Li stressed that, China and Kuwait has been firmly supporting each other and joining hands in combating the epidemic with close cooperation. During the outbreak, 60% of Kuwait's medical supplies are from China. China is keen to strengthen anti-epidemic cooperation with Kuwait, and provide support and facilitation in areas such as vaccine development. Li noted that China imported 13.4 million tons of crude oil from Kuwait in the first half of 2020, representing an increase of 23%. It shows that the bilateral cooperation remains active and has strong potentials. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Kuwait. China stands ready to take this opportunity to strengthen China-Kuwait strategic partnership to a new level.
Ambassador Li also talked about China's international cooperation against COVID-19 during the live interview.
The Sunshine program is a morning live news program at Kuwait TV English Channel (KTV2)with a broad audience. Prior to the live interview, the program played a short video on China's effective response to COVID-19 provided by the Chinese Embassy.