Chinese state councilor assures FM Qureshi of continued support amid pandemic

BEIJING: China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi telephoned Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday, assuring that China would continue to provide all possible support to help Pakistan overcome the coronavirus crisis as soon as possible.

“We will continue to provide all possible support according to the needs of Pakistan to help it overcome the epidemic as soon as possible,” he said.

According to a statement issued by Chinese Foreign Ministry here on Thursday morning, Wang Yi said that at a critical moment in China’s fight against the epidemic, President Dr. Arif Alvi paid a special visit to China and expressed his firm support for Pakistan to Chinese leaders, adding, “China will bear this in mind.”

He said that at present, the Pakistan’s epidemic situation also had an impact on the Chinese people. All sectors of Chinese society had acted spontaneously and actively donated money and materials to provide assistance to Pakistani brothers and sisters within their ability, he added.

Wang Yi said that the Chinese government had provided Pakistan with multiple batches of material assistance, and had also dispatched medical expert groups to hold expert video conferences to share prevention and treatment experience.

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Foreign Minister Qureshi expressed gratitude to China for its valuable support to Pakistan’s fight against the virus.

“Faced with this unprecedented global public health and economic crisis, China’s measures are precise and powerful, and have achieved positive results. Pakistan appreciates this,” he added.

He said that Pakistan was willing to further cooperate closely with China and continuously deepen the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries in the process of anti-epidemic.