China on Wednesday said India might win its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic at an earlier date. In a statement issued by the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, Counselor Ji Rong said, "We believe that the Indian people will win the battle at an early date. China will continue to fight the epidemic together with India and other countries, enhance cooperation in multilateral platforms such as G20 and BRICS, contribute our wisdom and strength to better address the global challenges and promote the health and well-being of all mankind."
The statement also thanked India for its support to fight the virus in China. India sent about 15 tonnes of medical assistance comprising masks, gloves and emergency medical equipment to the coronavirus-hit Wuhan city. Over 3,200 people have died and around 81,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus in China so far.
Ji Rong expressed appreciation for that on the behalf of her government and added that her country is ready to provide further support to India in the fight to win the battle.
“Chinese enterprises have started to make donations to India. We stand ready to provide further support and assistance to the best of our capability in light of the needs of the Indian side”.
Jo ring also added that the Chinese government has shared its experience in epidemic prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment since the beginning of the outbreak.
On Tuesday, Beijing reached out to India for support to counter the US’ attempt to pin blame on China for failing to warn the world early on about the virus and to detect and stop the coronavirus.
US officials like Mike Pence and Donald Trump have been calling the coronavirus the ‘Chinese virus’ and both nations had been locked in a blame-game over the cause of the virus outbreak, with China foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggesting that ‘patient zero’ of the pandemic might have come from the US. While US troops took part in Military World Games in October 2019, hosted at Wuhan, the virus was first reported from Wuhan in December 2019.
Two days ahead of the virtual G20 summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone discussion with Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs S. Jaishankar. Post the discussion, China’s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong posted on Twitter, “Wang Yi said [it is] not acceptable and detrimental to international cooperation to label the virus and stigmatize China, hope India [opposes] such narrow mindset.”
“Dr Jaishankar agreed not to label the virus and the international community should send (a) strong signal of solidarity,” he added.