Copy Reference The Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) was held on February 20 in Vientiane, Laos. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his ASEAN counterparts linked arms as they cheered for China, accompanied by a video showing the sympathy and support of ASEAN countries for China's fight against the disease.
As of February 20, six ASEAN member states had confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus pneumonia. Among the cases, 85 were in Singapore, 35 in Thailand, 22 in Malaysia, 16 in Vietnam, three in the Philippines, and one in Cambodia.
Facing the Challenge Together
After the outbreak of COVID-19, China and ASEAN quickly arranged the special foreign ministers' meeting. It was the first multilateral foreign ministers' meeting focused on public health and safety since the epidemic, and it received unanimous support from the 10 ASEAN countries. Only about 10 days were spent on arranging this high-level meeting, which not only demonstrated the resolve to work together against the disease, but set a good example for the global community in containing the virus.
The meeting was co-chaired by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Secretary Teodoro Lopez Locsin of the Philippines, country coordinator for ASEAN-China relations. Foreign ministers of ASEAN member states attended the meeting to discuss measures to jointly contain COVID-19 regionally.
In his remarks, Wang elaborated on the robust measures China has taken in fighting the epidemic and their clear effects. He declared that under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, the 1.4 billion people of China are united in fighting the epidemic. China has taken the most comprehensive, rigorous and thorough measures and built an effective prevention and control network to cut off the spread of the virus, demonstrating to the world how fast China can act. China's actions have gained time for the world and proved that it is a responsible major country, according to Wang.
Wang noted that epidemics do not respect national borders. China and ASEAN countries are like members of a family with a shared future. The two sides should engage in closer and more proactive cooperation to effectively prevent the spread of the virus, protect the life and health of all our people, and knit a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. Through such cooperation, the two sides will work to improve public health management in the region and further contribute to regional and global public health.
The ASEAN foreign ministers reached important consensus with Wang, agreeing to work together and support each other to fight the epidemic. To this end, Wang put forward four proposals:
First, enhance collaboration for better inter-agency response. Greater coordination must be secured between the health, quarantine, transportation and border control agencies of the two sides. A Special China-ASEAN Leaders' Meeting on COVID-19 could be held at an appropriate time to plan and set the direction of cooperation at a higher level.
Second, look ahead and set up permanent mechanisms to serve the long-term interests of the two sides. To facilitate a more rapid response, a China-ASEAN liaison mechanism could be established to enhance public health emergency preparedness. Efforts could also be made to establish China-ASEAN reserve centers for epidemic-control provisions.
Third, be guided by reason and overcome fear. The professional and authoritative recommendations by WHO should be respected. Normal travel and trade should fully resume at an early date.
Fourth, transform the challenge into an opportunity and foster new areas of cooperation. The two sides should harness the power of the internet and digital technologies to accelerate the transformation of their economies and step up cooperation in e-commerce and mobile payments. Greater efforts are needed to upgrade urban management and strengthen response, decision-making and management capabilities in major public emergencies.
Joint Efforts on Regional Health Security
The meeting adopted the Statement of the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). During the conference, clinical experts from China and ASEAN held a video meeting to communicate and discuss effective diagnosis and treatment plans.
ASEAN foreign ministers expressed appreciation for the timely meeting. They applauded China's resolute measures in battling the epidemic and its open, transparent and highly responsible attitude, and commended China for its admirable resolve in setting up an inter-agency system with historically unprecedented scale. Fully recognizing China's important contributions to public health security at regional and global levels, ASEAN foreign ministers expressed confidence that China would soon prevail over the outbreak.
They stressed that ASEAN and China should work more closely together to dispel rumors and prevent panic as part of greater efforts to avoid disruptions to normal exchange and cooperation. Such efforts would ensure the fight against the epidemic is remembered as another success story of ASEAN-China cooperation. ASEAN countries are ready to strengthen experience sharing and mutual learning with China in a joint effort to better ensure health security in the region.
On February 21, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Lopez Locsin of the Philippines tweeted a piece of news about the special meeting. “So enlightening, science- and fact-based it made me think twice about a decision;” he wrote, “but I said, ‘finally, we must deplore the lies spread by governments and people who are stooping so low as to use a threat against all humanity as an instrument of geopolitical strategy. Shame on them.’” Loscin then tweeted a quote from news report claiming that “the world got a head start because the Chinese scientific community had a robust disease-monitoring network in place to detect emerging flu strains and had experienced SARS.”
Before the special meeting, Vietnam, as the ASEAN chair, published the Chairman's Statement on ASEAN Collective Response to the Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019. The statement declares: “We express solidarity and heartfelt support to the government and people of the People's Republic of China, and to all countries around the world, in their tremendous endeavors to address the outbreak of COVID-19. We note with satisfaction the ongoing efforts by individual ASEAN member states and commend the proactive role and timely actions taken by the ASEAN health sector in collaboration with partners from the People's Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (the Plus Three countries) in the prevention and control of the spread of the COVID-19.” In addition, the ASEAN member states resolve to intensify timely sharing of information, experiences and best practices among ASEAN member states and between ASEAN and China, other partners, the WHO and international organizations on the prevention, detection, and treatment of the COVID-19 infections.
“China-ASEAN relations will be elevated to a new high after the joint fight against the epidemic,” asserted Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang at the Regular Press Conference on February 21.
The Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) was held on February 20 in Vientiane, Laos. Before the meeting, foreign ministers linked arms as they cheered for Wuhan, the main battlefield against the epidemic.