China plays significant role in global fight against COVID-19, economic recovery: Expert

KIEV - China has played a significant role in ensuring global stability and economic development by effectively fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and restoring the domestic economy, a Ukrainian expert said Friday.

"The past year was very difficult for everyone, including China. But, thanks to its high mobilization capabilities, China was able to quickly stop the spread of COVID-19 on its territory, and when the epidemic became global, it began to help other states, including Ukraine," Oleksiy Koval, a member of the Ukrainian Association of Sinologists, told Xinhua.

China has extended help to others in various manners, including providing personal protective equipment, test systems and medical equipment, organizing online conferences for medics to exchange experience and sending medical teams to countries in need, the expert noted.

As the world is struggling to expand access to vaccines against COVID-19, China, as a major responsible country, is not only forging ahead in the race to develop vaccines, but also actively exporting doses abroad, thereby helping countries unable to produce vaccines on their own, Koval said.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, China has provided vaccine assistance to 53 developing countries in need, and exported vaccines to 22 countries. It has also decided to provide 10 million vaccine doses to multilateral vaccine alliance COVAX backed by the World Health Organization to meet the urgent needs of developing countries.

Meanwhile, China made a remarkable contribution to the development of the world economy in 2020, the expert said, adding that China, by promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, increased trade with a number of countries despite the COVID-19 impact.