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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday that China has decided to urgently send medical supplies to Spain and open trade channels so that health and protection supplies can be urgently imported to deal with the coronavirus.

As reported by the official Xinhua agency, Wang made this announcement after speaking on the phone with his Spanish colleague, Arancha González Laya. She also reported on the conversation on Twitter and noted that they had talked about "streamlining commercial exchanges ", in the health field but also taking into account that "thousands of Spanish SMEs depend on exports to China."

The Chinese government will also encourage cities that have twinning arrangements with Spanish cities to offer aid. Wang added that China stands ready to offer its expertise in managing the epidemic, to organize video conferences of medical experts from both countries and to consider sending teams of experts at the right time.

The minister expressed his solidarity with Spain in the face of the rapid increase in new cases and noted that China, which has made "important progress in fighting the disease", is acting "responsibly" for the good of the health of its citizens and of the entire world . Thus, he appealed to all countries to pool their efforts to fight the epidemic to the end.

Expert Video Conferencing

According to Xinhua, the Spanish minister praised Chinese progress against the coronavirus and hoped that China can provide medical supplies. He also supported the possibility of videoconferences between medical experts from the two countries and to learn from the Chinese experience in managing this crisis.

In addition, he made it clear that Spain "opposes any act to stigmatize the virus" and that it appreciates the contribution of the Chinese community to the Spanish economy and, now, also to the prevention and control of the disease. Spain, he told his colleague, will guarantee health and social care for this group . Wang said the same about the Spaniards residing in China.

The two ministers spoke on Sunday, a day after the Chinese embassy in Spain rebuked Vox leader Javier Ortega Smith for referring to the coronavirus as "the Chinese virus." "Freedom of expression has limits," said the Embassy on Twitter with the label "Stop racism."

Wang stressed that the long friendship between the two countries and how both have always understood and supported each other. China also values ​​Spain's support and understanding of the epidemic.

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