China pledges to support ASEAN in COVID-19 fight, economic recovery

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to continue supporting ASEAN members in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery, during the Special Summit to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations on November 22.

At the commemorative summit. (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

In his remark, the Chinese leader said that China is ready to provide ASEAN with another 1.5 billion USD of development assistance in the next three years.

China recently put forth the Global Development Initiative to call for collective efforts of the international community to address challenges, drive global economic recovery and accelerate implementation of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This initiative has much to contribute to ASEAN countries' efforts to meet their development needs, and can be mutually reinforcing with ASEAN Community Vision 2025, he added.

China is ready to work with ASEAN countries to jointly build a "health shield" for the region. Under this initiative, China is willing to donate an additional 150 million doses of COVID vaccines to ASEAN countries to support higher vaccination rates in countries in the region.

Xi said China will provide an additional 5 million USD for the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund, step up vaccine joint production and technology transfer, and collaborate on research and development of essential medicines, so as to help ASEAN increase self-reliance.

China will support ASEAN in strengthening primary-level public health systems and cultivating human capital for ASEAN to build stronger capacity in response to major public health emergencies.

Regarding the climate change issue, he affirmed that China is ready to launch the Action Plan on China-ASEAN Green Agriculture to make the countries' agricultural sector more resilient and sustainable.

The Special Summit, held via videoconference, was to review the sides’ accomplishments together over the past three decades and devise orientations for the new period to deepen their relations so as to match the comprehensive strategic partnership, established during the 24th ASEAN-China Summit held in October./.

VNA