China will work with Malaysia on COVID-19 vaccine development - Ambassador

KUALA LUMPUR:China will work together with Malaysia and enhance cooperation in COVID-19 vaccine development and resumption of production, said its outgoing ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian.

He said Beijing and Kuala Lumpur will continue to fight the battle of pandemic control and economy recovery side by side, as one.

"In Malaysia, I am doing my best to carry out to the fullest our (China) leader’s views and concept on the global battle against COVID-19, which is themed solidarity and cooperation," he said.

The ambassador said Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced at the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly in May that China will make its coronavirus vaccine a global public good, once available.

He added that China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi also said at the recent China-ASEAN foreign ministers’ video conference that China will prioritise Southeast Asian countries in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.

Bai Tian was speaking at the online reception on the occasion of the 71st Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, which was broadcasted over the embassy's Facebook page.

The reception, held online for the first time here due to COVID-19, was also held as a farewell to Bai Tian who had served here since Nov 28, 2017.

Sharing his experience here, the ambassador said he remembered that Malaysians from all walks of life were donating funds and supplies to China when the COVID-19 hit Wuhan in January and February.

"In the past 10 months, there was a time when the pandemic hit China the hardest, and there was a time when COVID-19 reached its peak in Malaysia. However, China and Malaysia shared weal and woe, and conquered the hardships together," he said.

"Now face masks and clinical gloves are the new tokens of friendship between us," he added.

Bidding his farewell, Bai Tian said he will never forget the Malay proverb that he himself repeated countless times -- ‘Bukit sama didaki, lurah sama dituruni’ (to climb the hill together and to go down the ravine together) -- which he considers to be a vivid testimony of the profound friendship between two true friends who always come to help each other in times of need.

-- BERNAMA