Wherever you go, the motherland is behind you
2020 talk about consul protection (consular service)
Since the new crown pneumonia epidemic has spread globally, the lives and health of Chinese compatriots abroad have been seriously threatened.
At this time, the Chinese consular protection work went all out, striving to relieve the difficulties of overseas compatriots:
——Assist in the transfer of Wuhan compatriots and overseas students who are stranded overseas, and do their best to provide consular protection and services during the epidemic;
——To carry out the rescue and assistance work for overseas compatriots with all efforts, and bring the care and love of the party and the government to the broad masses of compatriots;
——Continue to build a strong defense line to prevent the import of overseas epidemics, and resolutely maintain the achievements of domestic epidemic prevention and control strategies...
On December 17, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a briefing on consular work. Director Cui Aimin of the Department of Consular Affairs gave a detailed introduction on the situation.
The reporter learned: Since the beginning of this year, the diplomats of Chinese embassies and consulates abroad have risked their lives and fought without hesitation on the front line of the fight against the epidemic every day, devoting all their efforts to consular protection for compatriots abroad. Work fully demonstrates the ruthlessness of the epidemic and the love of the motherland.
1. Build an "air corridor" for returning home
In the Spring Festival of 2020, the sudden new crown pneumonia epidemic disrupted the pace of Chinese citizens' overseas travel. Many countries have announced "stop flights" to China, and a large number of Chinese citizens, including residents of Hubei, are stranded overseas.
Cui Aimin said that we will work with the Civil Aviation Administration and other departments to actively communicate and coordinate with foreign governments and airlines to ensure the safety of overseas compatriots returning home.
According to the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee, we have dispatched 14 charter flights and temporary flights to pick up 1,887 Hubei residents from Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and other countries; arranged 351 flights from Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, Iran, etc. 92 More than 73,000 compatriots were taken back from countries; assisted the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government to retrieve 195 compatriots from Hong Kong and Macau on the "Diamond Princess" cruise ship from Japan.
In response to the closure of airports and the reduction of international flights by some countries, our embassies and consulates in relevant countries have done their best to do local government and airline work, and set up "air corridors" for overseas Chinese citizens to return to their countries.
According to statistics from relevant departments, since February this year, there have been approximately 21,000 inbound passenger flights (international regular flights, excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), of which approximately 8,000 are operated by foreign airlines and approximately 13,000 by Chinese airlines.
Even in the autumn and winter when the second wave of epidemics hit, the number of flights to China has maintained a high level internationally.
According to statistics from relevant departments, the number of compatriots who have recently entered the country by air is about 10,000 people a day.
2. "Health Pack" and "Love Pack" warm people's hearts
After the outbreak of the overseas epidemic, many countries were short of medical and anti-epidemic supplies, and overseas Chinese citizens could not buy masks, gloves and medicines.
Urgent compatriots are anxious, think about what compatriots think, our embassies and consulates abroad coordinated the relevant domestic overseas-related departments, local governments, relevant pharmaceutical companies, and mask manufacturers as soon as possible to urgently raise a large number of epidemic prevention materials and medicines, and send them overseas as soon as possible. Compatriots issued.
Both the ambassador and the consul general are involved in the first line of distributing supplies, and the staff have become "couriers" who deliver and distribute "health packs" and "love packs".
Up to now, more than 5 million overseas compatriots in more than 100 countries have received nearly 50 million masks, 6 million pairs of gloves, 700,000 boxes of Lianhua Qingwen capsules, etc., basically achieving full coverage of overseas Chinese's main countries of residence.
After receiving the "health pack", overseas Chinese citizens said, "The motherland is very strong, and the embassy is very warm", "I feel at ease, feel at ease, and have confidence in living overseas."
Three thousand Chinese citizens infected with the epidemic were rescued
Chinese embassies and consulates abroad do their utmost to safeguard the health and life safety of overseas compatriots, strengthen close cooperation and internal and external coordination with the health authorities of various countries, and ensure that all Chinese citizens who have been diagnosed and have suspected symptoms are "collected" and "received". rule".
In Nigeria, an employee of a Chinese-funded company became severely ill after contracting new coronary pneumonia, but the local hospital did not get better for several days.
The company urgently contacted the medical charter flight, hoping to transfer the patient back to China as soon as possible for the last fight.
The Chinese Embassy in Nigeria urgently coordinated the competent authorities of the two countries and relevant local governments to obtain the charter takeoff and landing permit in the shortest possible time, transfer the employee back to the country in time, and succeed in treatment.
In Spain, several Chinese students were diagnosed with the virus. The Chinese Embassy and Consulate in Spain urged local hospitals to treat them with all their strength, and arranged for Chinese medical experts and domestic doctors to provide timely professional advice through the Internet.
In Italy, the Chinese Consulate General in Milan coordinated the Italian medical team and the local overseas Chinese delegation to jointly build an "online shelter hospital", organized medical experts to conduct consultations for overseas Chinese, and delivered medicines to those in need.
China has also actively promoted more than 40 Asian and African countries to set more than 20 Chinese-aided hospitals and more than 40 local hospitals as designated hospitals to serve overseas compatriots; coordinate domestic authorities and places to send to 29 countries including Italy, Pakistan, and Russia The anti-epidemic medical expert team also provides telemedicine support for overseas Chinese who have been diagnosed or have close contacts in France, Serbia, Kazakhstan and other countries.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, various embassies and consulates abroad have assisted in the treatment of thousands of Chinese citizens infected overseas.
Four insurance hotlines average more than 3,000 calls per day
Affected by multiple factors such as the continuous deterioration of the epidemic situation in various countries, the shortage of medical resources, and the sharp drop in the number of international flights, overseas Chinese, overseas students, and Chinese-funded enterprise engineering laborers once panicked about the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and faced many difficulties in daily life.
In order to alleviate the anxiety and anxiety, Chinese ambassadors and consuls-generals have personally come forward to talk with local Chinese students, overseas Chinese, and personnel from Chinese-funded enterprises through seminars, video connections, etc., to exchange questions, answer questions, and strengthen confidence.
Ambassador Cui Tiankai said emotionally during a video chat with the student representatives: "As long as the students are there, as long as the Chinese compatriots are still there, the embassy will not retreat, and I will not leave."
On the eve of the "May 4th" Youth Day this year, Academician Zhong Nanshan connected to the online video of overseas students to guide them to improve their self-protection capabilities. The number of Internet views exceeded 600 million.
Well-known experts such as Zhang Boli, Li Lanjuan and Zhang Wenhong were invited to have video conversations to send warmth and care to overseas compatriots.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the 12308 hotline of the Global Consular Protection and Service Emergency Call Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been unimpeded, with more than 750,000 incoming calls.
Especially since April this year, the hotline has received more than 3,000 calls for help each day, which is more than three times that of the same period last year.
No matter when and where overseas compatriots call the hotline, they can always hear the cordial voice from the motherland.
Five pairs of detections strengthen the "firewall" for epidemic prevention
In order to effectively reduce the risk of cross-border transmission of the epidemic, China has taken the lead internationally to carry out remote prevention and control. Through measures such as the international version of the epidemic prevention health code, remote nucleic acid testing, and serum antibody testing, we have woven a dense "protection net" for people in China. Epidemic prevention and control have built a "firewall".
Since April this year, China has taken the lead in implementing the international version of the health code in 27 countries with a high risk of imported epidemics. Passengers have reported their personal health status for 14 consecutive days, and finally boarded with the green health code to come to China.
Chinese citizens can also rely on the health code applet to quickly apply for the "nucleic acid code" to board the plane and return to China, realizing the effect of remote prevention and control "code".
Up to now, there are more than 1.5 million registered users of the health code; the remote nucleic acid detection measures implemented in July have achieved full coverage of all air navigation countries and all passengers in China by the end of September.
Since the beginning of autumn and winter, the global "second wave" of the epidemic has been fierce, bringing greater risks to people coming to China and the prevention and control of the epidemic.
In early November, China increased serum antibody testing for people coming to China, and added "double insurance" to ensure the health and safety of international travel and reduce the risk of cross-border spread of the epidemic.
Some countries that do not currently have the conditions have adopted alternative programs such as two nucleic acid tests.
In addition, seafarers who transfer, shift and shift shifts also need "double testing" to prevent the epidemic from being imported from the sea.
Up to now, "dual testing" has been implemented in more than 160 countries.
Chinese embassies and consulates abroad have reviewed a total of nearly 530,000 test certificates, preventing 38,000 people who are likely to travel with the disease.
Six ordinary passports for overseas Chinese citizens
During the epidemic, due to the development of the epidemic situation in the host country and the requirements of local epidemic prevention policies, the consular windows of some of our embassies and consulates had to suspend external offices or adjust their office hours.
Taking advantage of the trend, China has explored a new model of consular work under the epidemic, and opened a "green channel" for our citizens overseas to apply for urgent documents:
——Since February this year, ordinary passports for overseas Chinese citizens will be accepted globally, that is, they can be processed at any Chinese embassy abroad, and the application materials for passport replacement will be further simplified.
——We provide services for overseas compatriots in handling passports, travel certificates, notarization, certification, and pension qualification review by mailing, video meeting, etc.
——In more than 20 embassies and consulates abroad, an appointment system for marriage registration of overseas Chinese citizens has been activated to provide convenience for visa applications for temporarily stranded overseas personnel.
Cui Aimin revealed that the "handheld" consular information service platform project launched this year will be built into a consular service system based on mobile applications, and ultimately achieve "handheld" and "zero errands" for consular services.
The project is expected to go online early next year.
By then, overseas consular services will enter the electronic age.
Ren Tao