Photo:Chinese Foreign Ministry

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' annual "Love Knows No Borders" international charity sale was launched online Saturday. The event is scheduled to last one week during the Double 12 shopping festival on Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, his wife Qian Wei, and more than 130 representatives from foreign embassies to China and China-based offices of international organizations attended the event's opening ceremony, held in Beijing, online and offline on Saturday morning.

For prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, the charity sale in 2020 is being conducted online for the first time, and will invite foreign diplomats for a livestreaming sale, Qian Wei, the initiator of the event, announced at the ceremony, expressing her appreciation of the support from foreign embassies in China, international organizations and kind-hearted locals and people from overseas toward China's poverty alleviation efforts.

The fund raised during the event will be used for de-facto orphans in Jinping and Malipo counties in Southwest China's Yunnan Province for their education and growth, Qian said.

Photo:Chinese Foreign Ministry

According to the event organizers, some diplomatic envoys in China and representatives from Jinping and Malipo counties will livestream to sell the goods together with the hosts from the "CCTV News" broadcast room on Taobao on Wednesday evening.

Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov delivered a speech on behalf of the diplomatic corps in China, speaking highly of the Chinese government in its fight against COVID-19.

He noted that all 832 poverty-stricken counties in China were lifted out of poverty as scheduled, showing that the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have won the biggest battle against poverty in human history and made great contributions to the cause of international poverty reduction.

"The diplomatic corps commends China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for mobilizing its social forces to alleviate poverty. We are glad to be part of this effort to help China's public poverty alleviation," he said.

Photo:Chinese Foreign Ministry

Wang Yi delivered a speech at the ceremony, noting that the COVID-19 epidemic has affected face-to-face communication, but it cannot stop the spread of love.

The "Love Knows No Borders" international charity sale has developed as an important platform for people at home and abroad to express their love. It has also become a window for the Chinese people to learn about the local conditions, customs, history and culture of other countries, and a bridge and bond for the Chinese people to deepen understanding and friendships with the people of other countries, Wang noted.

He hopes and believes that the diplomatic corps in China and the people with love in China will continue to actively participate and make new contributions.

Photo:Chinese Foreign Ministry

Twenty embassies and offices of international organizations in China, including the Japanese embassy, the South Korean embassy and the Singaporean embassy, were awarded for their contributions to China's poverty alleviation at the ceremony.

Chinese Foerign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying noted at Friday's routine press briefing that the "Love Knows No Borders" international charity sale is an important brand of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' poverty alleviation work.

Since 1992, the Foreign Ministry has committed to help two state-level poverty-stricken counties in Southwest China's Yunnan province, Jinping and Malipo counties. Over the past 28 years, more than 100 officials from the FM have devoted themselves to poverty alleviation, and 39 of them have taken temporary posts in the two counties. 

Global Times