China News Service, March 6th (Wu Jiaju) "I have a very positive view on China's contribution to the global fight against the epidemic in the past three years." Recently, Rui Lorido, chairman of the Portuguese think tank "China Watch" in Said in an interview with Chinanews.com.

He pointed out that on the one hand, China has contributed vaccines and medical supplies to the global fight against the epidemic; on the other hand, China has adjusted its own anti-epidemic policies based on scientific opinions.

"Chinese government puts citizens' lives above economic benefits"

　　Lorrido said that WHO data showed that after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, China's anti-epidemic policies saved many Chinese lives, especially the lives of vulnerable groups such as the elderly.

The WHO believes that the Chinese government puts the value of people's lives above economic interests.

　　At the same time, he believes that China has not ended the "dynamic zeroing" policy too quickly or too early.

　　Lorido recalled that since February 2022, after the foreign variant of the new coronavirus was introduced into China, China has effectively responded to several rounds of small-scale outbreaks, controlled the epidemic, and gradually reduced its impact and incidence.

　　He pointed out that with the popularization of the new crown vaccine in China, booster vaccination and the availability of effective drugs, the people's ability to protect themselves has been enhanced, and the risk of the new crown virus has been reduced.

In the process of fighting the epidemic, China cooperated with the WHO, based on the scientific progress of epidemic prevention, and listened to the opinions of experts and the public, and adjusted the epidemic prevention policy.

Drawing: Chinanews.com Chen Shankun

"Fake news trying to obliterate China's contribution to the fight against the epidemic"

　　On the other hand, Lorido said that some fake news tried to obliterate China's contribution to the fight against the epidemic.

This kind of fake news is a tool used by some countries and economic groups to try to control, slander and obstruct the development of China and other "competing countries".

　　In fact, he emphasized that in the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, after China completed the sequencing of the COVID-19 genome, it quickly shared the research results with the WHO in a responsible manner, and also shared its scientific and technological knowledge with the world.

　　In addition, in the process of helping the global fight against the epidemic, China has continued to supply anti-epidemic drugs and medical materials to many countries. Many materials have been sent to developing countries, and some of them are provided free of charge.

　　Lorido believes that some people in the West are trying to convey some wrong views, such as "China's new crown vaccine is not as good as the West's new crown vaccine" or "China is not doing well in vaccination."

The actual situation is that China's 1.4 billion people have received more than 3.4 billion doses of vaccines, and the vaccination rate exceeds 90%. The vaccination rate of the elderly is also very high.

　　In his view, thanks to the support of a sound health system, China has been committed to strengthening the public health systems of African and Asian countries.

For example, the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention Headquarters (Phase I) project aided by China to the African Union was officially completed in January 2023.

　　Lorrido pointed out that, in fact, the (political) elites in major Western countries "oscillate" between admiring the profound Chinese civilization and following the interests of the US government, trying to strike a balance.

These Western elites lack strategic autonomy.

　　"Some ruling elites use the media to manipulate public opinion, hoping to cover up the fact that Western countries are generally less efficient than China in responding to the new crown epidemic. This may explain why they are biased against China." Lorido said.

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