The COVID-19 pandemic has caused 720,000 confirmed cases worldwide, more than 30,000 deaths, and cases in almost all countries and regions.
Hua Liming
Born in the flames of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Hua Liming, an elderly diplomat in his old age, witnessed major historical events such as the Islamic Revolution in Iran and served as an interpreter for party and state leaders such as Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, and Deng Xiaoping. Talking about the current covid-19 epidemic, Hua Liming admitted that this is the most serious world crisis he has ever seen in his life, and the economic losses caused by the epidemic may exceed two world wars. All countries in the world should actively cooperate, abandon geopolitical considerations, and work together to fight the epidemic and jointly overcome the crisis.
The global outbreak has not yet reached its peak
Beijing Daily: What stage is the global epidemic situation now, and how do you assess the current global anti-epidemic situation?
Hua Liming: The epidemic in China is under control, but it is still developing outside Of China and spreading to the world. The global pandemic may not have reached its peak yet, and it will take some time to fall from the peak.
On March 28, New York paramedics took patients to the emergency room of a hospital in Brooklyn. Xinhua News Agency
The anti-epidemic situation outside China is becoming more and more severe, and nearly 200 countries in the world have rarely been spared, which has had a great impact on the world economy. As the largest economy in the United States, the stock market has fallen sharply in succession, three circuit breakers, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to almost zero, and the unemployed population has reached 3.28 million. Almost unprecedented in American history.
The world's main industrial chain is in China, Japan and South Korea, the market is in Europe and the United States, and the energy is in the Middle East. China, Japan and South Korea have all been seriously affected by the epidemic, Europe has been particularly affected, and oil prices in the Middle East have fallen sharply. The global economy has been greatly impacted.
On March 28, british prime minister Boris Johnson, who was diagnosed, directed his work via video. Xinhua News Agency
Some say, will it trigger the Great Depression of the 1930s? I note that some experts in the economic field do not think that it will cause such a serious crisis, but at least in the more than 70 years since the end of the Second World War, humanity has not encountered such a situation. The world pattern will be greatly impacted, the economy will undergo a major setback, and China will certainly be affected.
The pandemic has hit more than two world wars
People like Buffett have said that covid-19 is a situation he has never seen before. Is this outbreak the worst of the major events you've experienced?
Hua Liming: Judging by my age, this is the most serious worldwide crisis I have ever seen in my life. I've been through economic crises, local wars, and World War II I've caught up with a tail. But I think the economic toll of COVID-19 may be even greater than world war II. This is a very great catastrophe for humanity, the greatest global blow ever dealt.
On March 20, Mr. Jin, a patient who was discharged from Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, said goodbye to the nurse. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Yuguo
In my mind, the greatest catastrophes experienced by mankind were World War I and World War II. I think the impact of this epidemic is greater than the two major wars. The main battlefield of World War I was in Europe, World War II was in Europe and the Pacific, and other areas were relatively stable. But this outbreak is global, and in the way the virus spreads, the whole world is involved, which is a disaster even greater than the world war.
The pandemic has demonstrated that humanity needs globalization
Beijing Daily Client: From a global perspective, what is the key to controlling the epidemic?
Hua Liming: The development of the epidemic, from the perspective of globalization, is "turning bad things into good things". Since 2016, the world has seen a trend of anti-globalization. The Trump administration of the United States and China are fighting trade wars, and there are many "black swans" in Europe such as Brexit. The outbreak itself has taught the world that the world is an indivisible whole. Under the impact of the epidemic, no country can stand alone, and the world's 7 billion people are a big family, and they must work together in terms of global data, medical resources, funds, materials and disease source flows to control the epidemic. The epidemic is a good negative example of the trend of globalization, and human beings really need globalization, not only for economic development, but also to face the crisis together.
On March 30, a consumer walked in Wuhan Wushang Plaza carrying a shopping bag. On the same day, a number of shopping malls in Wuhan opened their doors to welcome customers. Xinhua News Agency reporter Shen Bohan and Fei Maohua photographed
It can also be seen from the Sino-US leaders' phone call and the G20 video summit that no country in the world, including the only superpower like the United States, and a large country like China, which ranks second in the world in terms of economy and a population of 1.4 billion, cannot deal with the common problems facing mankind alone, only mutual cooperation. For example, between China and the United States, cooperation should be adopted, geopolitical thinking should be abandoned, and especially the Cold War mentality of "zero-sum game" should be abandoned to face many new problems facing human society.
Inside the Casa Paloco Clinical Institute in Rome, medical staff and patients wrestle with the disease. Xinhua News Agency
This epidemic should enlighten mankind, which is a community of destiny. The relations between China and the United States, the relations between all countries in the world, and how to solve the problems of all mankind should abandon geopolitical thinking and truly meet the challenges of the 21st century through win-win cooperation.
What kind of system should human beings choose to govern themselves?
Beijing Daily: Under the global spread of the epidemic, we have seen that China, as well as Russia, can also provide great assistance to other countries, including established developed countries such as Italy, under the condition of their own epidemic control.
Hua Liming: China and Russia, especially China, have been successful in dealing with the epidemic on several occasions. First, with the sudden outbreak of the epidemic, the leaders of China and Russia did not hesitate to put human life first. Especially when the epidemic broke out in China, at the time of the national economic downturn and the large flow of hundreds of millions of people during the Spring Festival, the Chinese government resolutely put other issues on hold first, and the whole party, the whole army and the whole country mobilized to solve the problems of human life and safety, and lost no time in resuming work and production after the epidemic was basically controlled.
On March 25, the third batch of Chinese medical experts to Fight the epidemic in Italy took a group photo before the expedition. Xinhua News Agency reporter Wei Peiquan photographed
In contrast, the epidemic has broken out in some countries, the government is still tossing the stock market, cutting interest rates, undecided, grasping the economy or fighting the epidemic, has been hesitating, until the confirmed cases have passed 40,000, before making up their minds to declare a state of emergency.
Second, Both China and Russia have relatively high administrative and ruling capabilities, that is, the order is prohibited, the government issued an order, everyone will stay at home, the "lockdown" of the city, the stop of traffic stops, the monitoring of the monitoring, which can not be done in many countries. Until now, the epidemic in some Western countries has been very serious, but many people are reluctant to wear masks and cancel their gatherings. That's where I think we're very different from them.
Some of the problems of European and American countries themselves have also been exposed with the outbreak of the epidemic. For example, their economic situation is actually not very good, and they have been affected by the epidemic, and the production activities related to the control of the epidemic, such as masks, epidemic prevention supplies, and ventilators, China can quickly mobilize, hundreds of millions of masks, thousands of test kits, ventilators, protective clothing, can be produced, but can not be done in Europe and the United States. This does reflect the strengths and weaknesses of economic capacity or institutions.
Russian military vehicles arrive in Italy to help Italy fight covid-19. Russian Ministry of Defense/TASS Image
The spread of the epidemic around the world has naturally caused people to think about the system. For a long time, some Western countries have been talking about China's system, but this time in the process of fighting the epidemic, it can be seen that China has given full play to the superiority of the system and comprehensively supervised and controlled the epidemic. Many countries in the world are already learning from China's experience.
All of this provides people with new thinking on the issue of system, that is, what kind of system should human beings use to manage themselves? Especially in the face of a major natural disaster and major difficulties, the world is given an opportunity to rethink.
Expert Profiles
Hua Liming, born in 1939. He entered the Beijing Institute of Foreign Chinese in 1956 and graduated from Peking University in 1963. From 1963 to 1983, he served as a member of the Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan, the Department of West Asia and North Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Iran, a third secretary, a second secretary and a first secretary. After 1983, he served as Director general, counsellor and deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as a Persian translator for party and state leaders such as Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. From 1991 to 1995, he was The Chinese Ambassador to Iran. From 1995 to 1998, he was Chinese Ambassador to the UNITED Arab Emirates. From 1998 to 2001, he was The Chinese Ambassador to the Netherlands and China's Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). In 1998, he was awarded the Order of Independence of the First Class by the President of the United Arab Emirates, Zayed. Since 2006, he has been a specially invited researcher of the China Institute of International Studies.
(Beijing Daily client)