Ambassador Liu Xiaoming's keynote speech at the China-Britain Business Council Online Symposium: "Handle Together, Turn Crisis into Opportunity, and Create the Future Together"
China News Service, London, May 6 (Xinhua) On May 5, Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom Liu Xiaoming attended the UK-China Trade Association Online Symposium and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Handling Together, Turning Crisis into Opportunity, and Creating the Future" The audience asks questions.
The forum was chaired by Sir Gu Peiqin, chairman of the China-Britain Business Council. Lord Greenstone, Secretary of State for the Department of International Trade and Commerce of the United Kingdom, Lord Sassoon, Honorary Chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, Fang Wenjian, British Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Thayer, Vice Chairman of the KPMG Accounting Firm Central government officials, representatives of local governments such as Wales, Nottingham, Bristol, and Bath, BP, AstraZeneca, KPMG, HSBC and China-Britain Business Council, British Chinese Chamber of Commerce, 48 Group Clubs, Scottish Chamber of Commerce, etc. A total of 500 representatives including representatives from the business community, the British Library, the Law Society of England and Wales, Oxford University, University College London, University of Nottingham, Cardiff University, University of Glasgow, and representatives of the British Embassy and Consulates in China attended. British Sky News, China International Television (CGTN), Bloomberg News, "Daily Express", "Flag Evening News" and CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, "China Daily" and other reports. The full text of the keynote speech is as follows:
I am very happy to participate in the online seminar of the China-Britain Business Council. Although we are facing various difficulties now, with the help of modern technology, we can still communicate online on important issues of common concern.
At present, the epidemic of New Coronary Pneumonia is still spreading around the world, posing severe challenges to human society, seriously threatening people ’s lives and health, seriously impacting global production and demand, and seriously affecting economic and social development. This crisis is a major test for all countries in the world, giving us a more personal experience of building a community with a shared future for mankind and a deeper understanding of the great changes that the world has not seen in a century.
Faced with the crisis, how did China respond?
China was the first to report the outbreak to the World Health Organization, the earliest to identify pathogens, the earliest to share the complete virus gene sequence with WHO and relevant countries, the earliest to take strong and comprehensive prevention and control measures, the earliest to obtain important stage results of epidemic prevention and control, the earliest in the country Scope of countries that promote resumption of production. China has always achieved "three persistences" in the fight against epidemics:
One is to insist on taking the people as the center. President Xi Jinping repeatedly emphasized that "the safety and health of the people should always be the first priority." After the outbreak, the Chinese government, in a responsible attitude to the people, immediately constructed a multi-level grid-based prevention and control system from the central to the localities, and adopted the most comprehensive, strict and thorough prevention and control measures. , Adhere to the "four early" (early discovery, early report, early isolation, early treatment) and "four concentrated" (focus on patients, focus on experts, focus on resources, focus on treatment). Practice has proved that these deployments are timely and decisive, and the measures are powerful and effective, forming a pattern of comprehensive mobilization, comprehensive deployment, and comprehensive prevention and control of the epidemic.
The second is to stick to the same boat. China is not only responsible for the safety and health of its people, but also for the global public health cause. From the beginning, China has adopted an open and transparent attitude, timely reported the epidemic information to the international community, shared the entire gene sequence of the virus, shared prevention and control and diagnosis and treatment experience, and sent 19 batches of medical experts to 17 countries, including the UK More than 150 countries and international organizations provided urgently needed medical supplies such as masks, protective clothing, testing reagents, and ventilators. This epidemic will allow countries all over the world to realize that the epidemic can only be defeated if we work together and help each other.
The third is to stick to unity and cooperation. The International Monetary Fund predicts that the global economy will contract by 3% in 2020, far exceeding the economic downturn caused by the 2008 international financial crisis. Facing the grim situation, only by working together can we prevent the global economic recession from turning into a global economic depression. Not long ago, President Xi Jinping emphasized at the G20 Leaders ’Special Summit that what the international community needs most is firm confidence, concerted efforts, and united response, strengthening international macroeconomic policy coordination, adopting tariff reductions, removing barriers, and facilitating trade Joint measures to boost the morale of world economic recovery.
China and Britain are partners in the joint fight against epidemics. In more than a month, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Johnson called twice to reach an important consensus on Sino-British cooperation in the fight against epidemic disease and relations between the two countries. Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak, Director Yang Jiechi of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Committee and Secretary of the Cabinet and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sedwell, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and British Foreign Secretary Rab and Director Ma Xiaowei The British Minister of Health Hancock has spoken on the phone several times, and I have maintained communication with the British government ministers and senior officials in London.
China and the UK are closely coordinating and cooperating in the fight against epidemic diseases. They not only provide anti-epidemic materials to each other, but also strengthen the sharing of epidemic prevention information and exchange of experience, and promote cooperation in the fields of vaccine and drug research and development. Both China and the United Kingdom firmly support multilateralism, WHO plays an important role in global anti-epidemic, support strengthens anti-epidemic cooperation within the G20 framework, and promotes the improvement of global health governance. Both China and Britain are important participants, promoters and beneficiaries of economic globalization and trade liberalization. In this special period, the two countries should adhere to the concept of openness and win-win, firmly support free trade, firmly defend multilateralism, and jointly guarantee the openness, stability and security of the global industrial chain and supply chain.
When the international community concentrated on fighting the epidemic together, some politicians in the United States spread rumors and slander. They ignored China's huge efforts, huge sacrifices and great contributions to the world's fight against epidemics, politicized the epidemic situation, labeled the virus and stigmatized China.
Regrettably, there are also a few politicians in the UK who are addicted to the Cold War mentality and compare China to the former Soviet Union. Some have to "re-examine" Sino-British relations, and some have to launch a new Cold War. These remarks are a kind of "political virus." If they are allowed to develop, they will poison the atmosphere of unity and anti-epidemic between China and Britain, and even the international community, and damage Sino-British political mutual trust and cooperation in various fields. We must be highly vigilant, strongly opposed, and resolutely resist. We should advise them: China is not the former Soviet Union. The era of the Cold War is long over, and peace and development are the themes of today ’s era and the goals that China and Britain are committed to.
Chinese and British entrepreneurs have always been a new force promoting Sino-British friendly cooperation and an important force for promoting world prosperity and stability. Although the epidemic caused a short-term decline in Sino-British trade, and some enterprises are inevitably facing difficulties in payment and logistics, the fact that China and Britain have complementary economic advantages has not changed, and the basis for economic and trade cooperation has not changed. The confidence in cooperation has not changed. In the Chinese language, the term "crisis" includes both "crisis" and "opportunity." We focus on finding opportunities in crisis and turning them into opportunities. How to turn crises into opportunities and achieve contrarian development, I have three suggestions:
One is to seize the opportunity of China's first economic recovery. As China's epidemic prevention and control situation is further consolidated, China's economic recovery and development is stable. As of late April, the average operating rate of industrial enterprises above designated size in China had reached 99.1%, and the rate of reinstatement of personnel had reached 95.1%. China's manufacturing purchasing managers index in April was 50.8%, which was above the gloom line for two consecutive months. According to the survey of more than 8,200 key foreign-funded enterprises by the Ministry of Commerce of China, as of April 28, 76.6% of foreign-funded enterprises had a recovery rate of more than 70%. The epidemic has also brought opportunities for China's economic transformation and upgrading, including "house economy", "cloud office", digital economy, artificial intelligence, medical and health, etc. have great development potential. For example, China has become a major supplier of global medical supplies, which is not only China's contribution to global anti-epidemic, but also helps to build the future industrial chain and supply chain. China will continue to play the role of "world factory" and "world market" and will remain an important source of power for world economic development. It is hoped that British companies will take the time to judge the situation, seize the opportunity, and take advantage of the Chinese economy to take the lead in recovering and developing.
The second is to seize the opportunity to build an open world economy. China has achieved great success in the past 40 years, thanks to reform and opening up; China's future success depends on adhering to reform and opening up. Therefore, no matter where the global new pneumonia epidemic develops, China's reforms will continue to advance, and the door to the world will open wider and wider. At present, the Chinese government is fully implementing the pre-entry national treatment plus negative list system, studying the further reduction of negative list entries, and continuing to promote the construction of free trade pilot zones and free trade ports. The 127th Canton Fair will be held online in June this year, and the third China International Import Expo will be held in November. These provide valuable opportunities for China and the world to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation. We welcome everyone here to attend these two important events. In addition, China and Britain are also discussing arrangements for negotiating free trade agreements. The UK is China's third largest trading partner in Europe, China is the UK's third largest export market for goods, and the UK is China's largest investment destination in Europe. I believe that promoting the construction of an open world economy will inject new vitality into future Sino-British economic and trade cooperation and provide important opportunities for China and Britain to jointly promote the revitalization of the world economy.
The third is to seize the opportunity to jointly build the "Healthy Silk Road". In the global anti-epidemic process, we have further realized that only the long-term deployment of human health and health, improve the level of global public health governance, support the United Nations and the World Health Organization to play a central role in improving global public health governance, and build a human health and health community Only in this way can we prepare for the fight against the virus and win opportunities. The construction of the “Belt and Road” is not only committed to achieving economic integration and development of all parties, but also helping to maintain peace and stability in the region and the world. It is an important way to the community of human health. Working together to create the "Healthy Silk Road" provides new ideas for improving global public health governance and opens up new cooperation spaces for high-quality co-building of the "Belt and Road". After the outbreak, the China-Europe class listed as a green channel for European countries to obtain medical supplies and daily necessities in a timely manner. In the context of shrinking global trade, China-Europe trains will play the role of a new artery of international transportation and reduce the impact and impact of the epidemic on China-EU industrial chain and supply chain cooperation. I believe that in the new space under the construction of the “Belt and Road”, British experience, wisdom, creativity and Chinese capital, technology and marketability will certainly complement each other.
Ladies and gentlemen:
The big epidemic brought the big exam, which promoted big changes. In the face of the new test of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, all countries in the world have to answer a series of questions: Do they want economic globalization or reverse globalization? Is it open or closed? Should we cooperate or confront? Do you want multilateralism or unilateralism? I believe that the answers of China and Britain are highly consistent. As long as we strengthen our confidence, help each other, turn crises into opportunities, and deepen cooperation, we will be able to overcome the epidemic and create a better future! (Finish)