On December 3, 2020, Special Representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the Special Session of the General Assembly in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and delivered a speech entitled "Reinforce Global Cooperation with Renewed Solidarity to Defeat COVID-19" via video link.
Wang Yi said that China supports the UN General Assembly in convening this special session in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world is braced for a second wave of infections, what lies ahead is an uphill battle. We hope that all parties will strengthen solidarity and expand consensus to reinforce cooperation.
We need to act decisively to contain the spread of the virus. It is important to fully leverage the support of science and technology to promote collective response around the world so as to curb the cross-border spread of the virus. We need to respect and protect every life and treat every patient with utmost efforts. We need to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccines are a global public good and accessible and affordable for developing countries.
We need to enhance solidarity and cooperation. Major countries must play an exemplary role in promoting collaboration, which is the right way forward. Public health security should be made a priority on the international agenda, accompanied by efforts to improve the governance system for public health security. It is also necessary to support the World Health Organization so that it can play the critical leadership role.
We need to coordinate COVID-19 control and economic and social development. We should bring out the best in both the government and the market to promote employment, ensure people's livelihoods, and enhance the resilience of development. We should make good use of the new business forms and models that took shape during the pandemic to boost emerging industries and pursue a "green recovery". And we should strengthen international coordination on macroeconomic policies to keep global industrial and supply chains stable.
We need to step up support for developing countries and provide greater humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable communities. More resources should be devoted to areas such as public health capacity-building, and food security. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and others should offer more concessional terms on financing to lessen the burden of developing countries.
We need to foster an enabling international environment for the fight against COVID-19. Conflicting parties should actively respond to the appeal for global ceasefire made by Secretary-General António Guterres, disengage on the battleground and focus on fighting the virus. It is important to listen to the calls of the international community and remove all forms of unilateral sanctions and other unilateral coercive measures.
Wang Yi said that under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has all along put the people and their lives above everything else in its COVID-19 response. We have taken the most comprehensive, rigorous and thorough measures and established a mechanism to coordinate medium to long-term efforts on epidemic control and economic and social development. China has also launched the largest-ever global humanitarian campaign in the history of the People's Republic of China, engaged in the most intensive virtual exchanges, and stepped up to our responsibility as the largest supplier of anti-epidemic materials. China will continue to provide support and assistance to countries in need. We are speeding up the phase III clinical trials of our vaccines. Once developed and deployed, we will make them global public goods and provide them to other developing countries as our contribution to building a community of health for all. Guided by the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, let us walk hand in hand, determined and undaunted, to get through this difficult time and embrace the dawn of victory.
