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Guo Shaochun
Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe
This week, the Chinese people are celebrating the Spring Festival. As a lunar calendar festival, its date on the Gregorian calendar varies from year-to-year. In 2022, it falls on February 1. This is the grandest festival in China.
Houses are decorated, sumptuous meals prepared, greetings and gifts exchanged, and fireworks on display, all for a better year to come. This is the time every Chinese wants to make their way home, however long and difficult the journey may be.
Like elsewhere in the world, family reunions are hard to plan these days with Covid-19 lurking in the corner. But unlike in many places, the Communist Party of China and Chinese government have created the best possible conditions for the Chinese people to enjoy a hearty dinner with their loved ones.
China follows an approach commonly dubbed as “dynamic zero”. It includes a slew of measures to promptly identify sources of infections, intervene with public health and community-based response, and combine traditional Chinese medicine with Western medicine to provide effective treatment against hospitalisations and deaths.
“Dynamic zero” does not mean “zero infection”. The gist is to achieve the best possible public health result at the lowest cost.
The cocktail of measures have been effectively executed thanks to the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China and China’s efficient governance system, prowess in medical science and public health, and resilient and united people.
The underpinning logic of this approach is people-centred philosophy which consistently prioritises life above all else.
With this strategy, China has managed to keep its infection rate at the world’s lowest level and maintain one of the world’s highest economic growth rates.
The rate of Covid-19 patients in China is 8,9 per 100 000 people and the mortality rate is 0,4 per 100 000 people. According to Chinese epidemiologists, were it not for this policy, China would have witnessed 204 million to 206 million infections and more than three million fatalities if the infection and death rates in the US and UK prevailed in the country.
Supported by the “dynamic zero” approach, China’s GDP expanded 8.1 percent year on year to 114,37 trillion yuan (about US$18 trillion) in 2021.
The Communist Party of China and Chinese government are practising the people-centred philosophy not only at home, but also around the world, as manifested in its commitment to the global community with a shared future.
China is among the first to have promoted global co-operation against the pandemic. China advocates vaccines be treated first and foremost as a global public good. China is one of the strongest proponents of equitable distribution of vaccines.
China is one of the earliest to have committed to making Covid-19 vaccines a global public good and supporting waiving intellectual property rights on vaccine research and development.
China is one of the earliest to have started joint production with other developing countries.
By the end of last year, China had provided more than two billion doses of COVID vaccines to over 120 countries and international organisations, standing proudly as the biggest provider of outbound vaccines among all countries.
One out of every two Covid vaccines administered across the globe is made in China. We also support Chinese companies in transferring technologies to developing countries; joint vaccine production has been launched with 20 countries.
A priority in our international anti-pandemic co-operation has been to support Africa. China is the first to have come to Africa’s aid.
We have deployed medical experts or short-term medical teams to 17 African countries, established co-operation mechanisms with 45 hospitals in 40 African countries, and provided anti-pandemic supplies for each and every African member of FOCAC.
Over 180 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have come from China to 53 African countries and the AU Commission. Adding to the long list is the latest landmark pledge by President Xi Jinping at the FOCAC Conference last year to provide another one billion doses of vaccines for Africa.
This is a powerful message of China and Africa working together to close the “immunisation gap”.
Zimbabwe, again, becomes one of the earliest beneficiaries. Over the course of the year, China will donate 10 million doses of vaccines to Zimbabwe, in addition to the two million that have arrived.
In the beginning of this pandemic, many in the world predicted disaster for Zimbabwe, perhaps even taking some morbid pleasure in their imagined doomsday.
But Zimbabwe has proven them disastrously wrong. They were wrong because they underestimated Zimbabwe’s powerful combination of a servant leadership and a resilient people. They questioned the commitment of Zimbabwe’s true friends like China to the country.
President Mnangagwa and the Government of Zimbabwe are never shaken in their determination to protect the life and health of the people, follow scientific guidelines, and promote solidarity.
They kept the country united and protected against waves of the pandemic. What is more admirable and winning international recognition is that they have managed to restore growth to the economy under these difficult circumstances.
As has been fully observed now, the human dimensions of this pandemic go far beyond health.
While providing vaccines, China has also been working hard to help Zimbabwe cope with the economic challenges.
In the past year, our bilateral co-operation in a number of flagship projects delivered good progress, such as the drilling of 500 more boreholes, the new parliament building, expansion of Hwange power station, and engineering works at the RGM International Airport.
To energise Africa’s post-pandemic recovery, President Xi Jinping outlined nine more programmes for China-Africa co-operation for the next three years at the FOCAC conference in Senegal.
Already, China has hit the ground running to implement these programmes. We stand ready to continue our close partnership with our African friends to make the African people see the fruits of the new programmes at an early date.
The upcoming new year is the year of the tiger, according to the Chinese zodiac which features a 12-year cycle with each year represented by a specific animal. In Chinese culture, tiger symbolises bravery and strength.
The Spring Festival will also see the opening of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, of which the official motto is “Together for a Shared Future”.
Looking ahead in the new year, China will continue to pursue high-quality development, reform and opening-up and foster a good natural environment.
China will continue to deepen its friendship with Zimbabwe and work for common development with Zimbabwe.
With the courage of a tiger, we will overcome all challenges and leap forward into a beautiful future.
Online Reporter