Stigmatization immoral, unfair, FM says

China said on Wednesday it firmly opposes all kinds of stigmatization of the novel coronavirus disease, as these practices undermine countries' domestic efforts and international cooperation to fight the pandemic.

Such behavior is both immoral and unfair, while any attempts to stigmatize China's efforts to contain the virus are disgraceful, and will only lead to divisions in the international community, said State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wang made the remarks during respective phone calls with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Indonesian Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, the Indonesian government's coordinator for cooperation with China, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the Foreign Ministry.

China has been coordinating with the international community in a transparent manner since the very beginning of the outbreak and has made huge sacrifices to stop the virus from spreading, gaining invaluable time for other countries to contain the disease, Wang said.

Calling for countries to cooperate to fight the contagion, an enemy of all mankind, Wang said China will stand firmly with the international community until the world completely overcomes the pandemic.

China will actively share its experience in containing, diagnosing and treating the disease with other countries, send teams of medical experts to countries in need and provide medical supplies to them to the best of its ability, Wang said.

The country will also export medical supplies to help ease shortages in other countries, he said.

Balakrishnan, Luhut and Lavrov expressed their congratulations for the progress China has made in containing the virus.

Balakrishnan said that Singapore never approves of the stigmatization of countries.

It's imperative that Singapore and China consolidate the positive outcomes they have achieved in fighting the disease, prevent the contagion from entering their nations and work together to cope with the long-term influence the outbreak will have on public health, the economy, politics and society, he said.

Luhut expressed his appreciation for the medical supplies China has provided to Indonesia, and said Indonesia hopes to learn from China's successful experience in curbing the disease.

Indonesia also hopes to quickly resume exchanges and cooperation with China when the contagion is under control, Luhut said.

Lavrov said countries should learn from China to cope with the disease, and that they should work together at a time when international relations are being challenged seriously.