Ma Xiaowei, minister of China's National Health Commission, spoke over the phone with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra on May 19 to exchange views on China-US health communication and collaboration.

Ma first congratulated Becerra on his new appointment. He said that the health authorities of China and the US have maintained multi-field, multi-channel and all-round cooperation for a long time. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides have maintained technical exchanges and communication on pandemic prevention and control.

China stands ready to work together with the US, in accordance with the spirit of the phone call between the two heads of state on Chinese New Year’s Eve, carry out institutional dialogues and intensify cooperation between technical institutions under the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, he added.

He also called on the efforts of the two sides to strengthen coordination on multilateral platforms such as the World Health Organization and the G20 and to deepen practical health and anti-pandemic collaboration in a bid to jointly build a global health community for all.

Becerra said that health exchanges and cooperation between the two countries are in the interests of both sides, and consensus is far greater than differences. He also expressed willingness to enhance bilateral institutional dialogues between the health authorities, encourage communication and collaboration between medical research institutions and other technical institutions, and deepen exchanges and cooperation in multilateral institutions so as to tackle global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic.