Nation backs WHO on new committee

China supports the World Health Organization in establishing a review committee to evaluate global responses to COVID-19 at a proper time when the pandemic is over, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing that China supports the proposed committee's future work in summarizing anti-contagion experiences and deficiencies from around the world in an open, transparent and inclusive way so as to make recommendations on strengthening the WHO's work, promoting capacity building of public health in various countries and improving the global capacity to deal with future pandemics.

China has maintained close contact with the WHO, Hua said, adding that it is the duty of the organization to set up such a committee to assess major pandemics in accordance with the international health regulations to improve global preparedness for public health crises.

Some countries are curbing the virus according to their own situations, Hua said, adding that China's battle against the virus has achieved good results.

According to a survey released on Wednesday, of approximately 12,500 people from 23 countries who rated their governments' coronavirus containment efforts, China ranked highest with 85 percent of respondents believing the country will emerge stronger from the crisis.

On the other hand, only 41 percent of respondents from the United States were happy with their own leaders and just 16 percent in Japan.

The research, conducted April 3-19 by Singapore's social research agency Blackbox Research and international online panel specialist Toluna, used four key performance indicators: national political leadership, corporate leadership, community and media.

Hua said China believes all countries should promote mutual understanding and exchanges when confronting the coronavirus, respect efforts made by others and learn from each other's useful experiences.

China is willing to continue sharing information regarding the virus with other countries and discuss its experiences and useful practices in anti-epidemic work to effectively carry out cooperation, she said.