(Fighting New Coronary Pneumonia) Global War Epidemic: Indonesian Overseas Chinese Leader Zhang Jinxiong: Overseas Chinese actively participate in the fight against the epidemic to help stabilize the economy
China News Service, Jakarta, August 14th, title: Indonesian overseas Chinese leader Zhang Jinxiong: Overseas Chinese actively participate in the fight against the epidemic to help stabilize the economy
China News Agency reporter Lin Yongchuan
"Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Indonesian overseas Chinese, Chinese, Chinese businessmen, and Chinese communities have actively participated in the fight against the epidemic, and have done their best to stabilize work and production, and help stabilize the Indonesian economy." On the 14th, Zhang Jinxiong, executive vice chairman and executive chairman of the Indonesian Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency.
Zhang Jinxiong said that when the epidemic broke out in China at the beginning of the year, the overseas Chinese in Indonesia cared about their ancestry (home) and moved quickly to raise epidemic prevention and medical supplies to the front line of China's fight against the epidemic, and contribute to China's fight against the epidemic.
On March 2, Indonesia found its first confirmed case. As of August 13, a total of 132,816 cases have been confirmed, including 5,968 deaths. In more than five months, the epidemic situation has become increasingly serious.
Zhang Jinxiong said that the epidemic has had a huge impact on Indonesia's economy and people's livelihood. According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the country's GDP in the second quarter of this year had a negative growth of 5.32%. This is the largest quarterly decline in the country's GDP since 1999. Industries such as aviation, tourism, catering, and retail have been hit hard. Many small and medium-sized enterprises are in deep trouble. As of June, at least 2,000 hotels and 8,000 restaurants have closed. A large number of laborers are unemployed, the number of poor people has increased sharply, and low- and middle-income families have a difficult life.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, Indonesian overseas Chinese, ethnic Chinese, Chinese businessmen, and Chinese society have all taken active actions to take on the role of "public anti-epidemic". The actions of donating funds and raising funds, purchasing and donating epidemic prevention materials and living materials have never stopped.
Zhang Jinxiong said that the Indonesian Chinese Chamber of Commerce purchased entire containers of anti-epidemic materials including protective clothing, goggles, and test kits from China, and directly donated them to the Indonesian Ministry of Health and first-line designated hospitals that treat COVID-19 patients; some Chinese news agencies sent them out. Specialized personnel are permanently stationed in China to check the procurement, and continuously transport batches of medical resources to Indonesia for donations to the front line of the epidemic. Currently, donation activities organized by the Chinese News Agency are carried out every week throughout Indonesia.
Zhang Jinxiong, who is also the executive vice chairman of the Indonesian Fujian Association of Associations, said that in addition to the donation of anti-epidemic materials, the Chinese community has also actively responded to the government's "large-scale social care and mutual assistance" initiative. During Eid al-Fitr this year, many Chinese communities, including the Fujian Association of Friendship Associations, made a larger-scale donation of "Eid al-Fitr condolences" than in previous years to help Muslim friends have a safe Eid al-Fitr. In the condolences package of the "Fu Lianhui", there are not only rice, oil, sugar and other living materials, but also masks donated by Fujian Province from hometown to overseas Fujianese associations. "We put some of them in the Eid al-Fitr condolences package and donated them to our fellow citizens to help everyone fight the epidemic together."
While donating money and materials to fight the epidemic and relieve poverty, the majority of Chinese businessmen are also striving to stabilize their work and production on the basis of protecting their own employees, and try their best to ensure that employees are not unemployed and have food to make money to support their families, helping the government to stabilize the economy.
In early June, the Indonesian government began to loosen "large-scale social restrictions" measures and gradually restart the economy. For more than two months, some economic indicators of the country have shown signs of recovery.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of Indonesia, in the first half of this year, the trade volume of China-Indonesia-Africa oil and gas products was 30.97 billion U.S. dollars. Although a decrease of 3.56% year-on-year, Indonesia's exports to China increased by 11.95% year-on-year. China remains Indonesia's largest trading partner. Chinese businessmen have played a huge role in the close economic and trade cooperation between China and Indonesia.
"At present, Indonesia has an average of about 2,000 new confirmed cases every day. The epidemic is still very severe. Facing the dual challenges of epidemic prevention and control and economic recovery, the Indonesian overseas Chinese and Chinese business community will continue to do their best to help fight the epidemic and stabilize the economy. "Zhang Jinxiong said. (Finish)