Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong

 

China will make its utmost efforts to provide help to India in accordance with the demands of the Indian side, and the production of at least 40,000 oxygen generators as the orders placed by India is underway. Chinese companies will soon deliver necessary medical supplies to India, Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong told the Global Times in an exclusive interview. 

Sun said China hopes and believes that under the leadership of the Indian government, local people can conquer the pandemic soon. In fact, China was one of the countries proposing help and support at the earliest stage, and quickly took action, he said.

Since this April, China has supplied more than 5,000 ventilators, 21,569 oxygen generators, over 21 million masks and around 3,800 tons of medicine to India, Sun said in a tweet on Thursday, citing the statistics of the General Administration of Customs of China.

“As far as I know, Chinese companies have been accelerating production of at least 40,000 oxygen generators – orders placed by the Indian side, and they are working around the clock to deliver them as soon as possible. Many Chinese firms and private organizations are also using their own channels to provide various [forms of] help to India,” Sun said, 

China will continue encourage and support Chinese companies accelerating the production of medical supplies and facilitating customs clearance and transport for India purchasing the supplies. And it will also encourage public health experts of the two countries to communicate on sharing anti-epidemic experiences, according to the ambassador.

We will continue providing all the available support to India for saving lives, underscoring the responsibility and good manner as a major power, Sun said. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday sent a message of condolences to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over India's COVID-19 situation. Xi said China is willing to enhance cooperation with India in the fight against COVID-19 and provide help to the country.

Xi said that he is concerned about India's COVID-19 situation; and he sends condolences to the Indian government and people, in the name of the Chinese government, people and himself. 

For two days in a row, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi sent messages of sympathy to Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar over the grave coronavirus situation in India. On Friday, Wang reiterated China’s firm support for the Indian government and people in fighting the pandemic during a phone call with his Indian counterpart, saying that medical supplies produced in China have been advancing to enter India, according to the ambassador. 

The Red Cross Society of China, local governments and private friendship organizations as well as companies have already offered the help to India, Sun said, noting that Wang also suggested that China will take further measures in supporting India’s anti-epidemic fight in accordance to the demands of the Indian side. 

Currently, the embassy has offered about 70,000 masks and around 7,000 boxes of Chinese medicine over the past year to all the Chinese people in India. It is keeping a close contact with them and the overall situation is stable, the ambassador said. 

India has been engulfed in a new wave of infections. According to the latest official data reported on Friday, the country recorded 386,452 new cases, with an overnight death toll of 3,498.

On Wednesday, the embassy organized an online anti-pandemic conference with Chinese nationals in India, inviting Gao Fu, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and head of the Chinese CDC, to talk about the pandemic situation and personal protection issues. About 300 people participated in the online event. 

“With the guidance of the experts, in addition to the supplies offered by the embassy, Chinese people could protect themselves to a large extent,” Ambassador Sun said, noting that no matter how the epidemic situation changes, as long as Chinese people are there, the embassy will be there providing firm support for them.