Speaking on the G20 Sherpas' Statement on COVID-19 at the regular press conference on March 13, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that fighting the pandemic in solidarity is the only right option for the international community.

Geng made three points in his comment. First, in the face of a pandemic that respects no borders, the only way out is to fight the virus together. No country can stay immune to its impact; we can overcome the current difficulties by embracing the spirit of solidarity and multilateralism, recognizing that mankind is in the same community with a shared future. Unilateralism, finger-pointing and stigmatization must be rejected, and more positive energy galvanized for international cooperation.

Second, China supports the G20 in coming forward once again to rally international efforts against the pandemic. We support the timely adoption of all necessary fiscal, financial and structural policy tools at both the demand and supply sides and greater coordination of macro-economic policies to underpin strong, balanced, sustainable and inclusive global growth.

Third, the open world economy must be upheld. National response measures will inevitably have an impact on trade and investment. That being said, we must do our best to ease tensions in international trade, remove unilateral tariff measures and keep the global industrial and supply chains as smooth as possible.