China, EU can jointly help world better deal with public health threats: Chinese envoy

China and the European Union (EU) can work together to help strengthen global defense against threats to public health, such as COVID-19 pandemic, and contribute to building a global community of health for all, Chinese ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming has said.

The Chinese ambassador made a keynote speech earlier this week at a webinar with two British think tanks -- Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) and Centre for European Reform (CER) -- on China-Europe relations after the pandemic.

During the speech, he said that China and the EU should continue sharing experience in epidemic-containment, enhance cooperation on R&D of vaccine and medicines, strengthen support to regions with weak public health systems, and actively explore tri-party cooperation between China, the EU and Africa on epidemic response.

"COVID-19 reminds the world that mankind belongs to a community with a shared future," Liu said, "scapegoating and shirking responsibilities are unhelpful to solving problem or saving lives."

"Solidarity and cooperation are the only right way forward in this fight against the virus," he said.

The China-EU cooperation is very important because "both China and Europe are major global players, big markets and great civilisations," he noted.

China and the EU can join hands to contribute to the global response to COVID-19 pandemic, to world economic recovery, to improving global governance and to overturning the deficits in the world's health, development, peace and governance fields, which, he said, have been revealed by the most serious pandemic in a century.

"As COVID-19 continues ravaging the world, the international landscape and the global governance system face profound changes," he said, "China attaches great importance to cooperation with the international community, including Europe, on fighting the pandemic."

Around 100 people took part in the webinar with the two think tanks, including representatives from economic, financial and academic sectors in Britain, Europe, North America, Australia and South America, and journalists from 14 media outlets.