A Commendation Conference for National Response to COVID-19 was held in Beijing, China on September 8. President Xi Jinping attended the Conference, made important remarks and conferred “Medal of the Republic” to Zhong Nanshan, “People’s Hero” national honorary title to Zhang Boli, Zhang Dingyu and Chen Wei respectively. More than two thousand outstanding individuals and collective representatives were commended. Such kind of courtesy shows the country's lofty respect to its people from all walks of life who have made significant contributions in combating the epidemic, in which their names and achievements will always be remembered by the people and the history:
Zhong Nanshan - a renowned leading expert in the field of respiratory diseases in China. He has put forth policies and measures for prevention and control of COVID-19, which have saved numerous lives.
Zhang Boli - the expert who has supervised integration of Chinese medicine into the entire course of treatment of COVID-19. The integrated therapy has become a highlight of the famous Chinese COVID-19 therapies.
Zhang Dingyu - an outstanding representative in the front line of medical treatment. Diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), he has fought in the frontline helping the patients without any reservation amid the epidemic.
Chen Wei - the expert who has been engaged in research on the prevention and control of biological hazards for a long time. After the COVID-19 outbreak, she has made significant achievements in the research and development of vaccines and preventive drugs.
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COVID-19 is the most serious global pandemic of infectious disease in a century. It is also a major public health emergency with the fastest spread, the widest infections range and the most challenging prevention and control measures since the founding of New China. In the past eight months or so, the Chinese government has united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country, bravely fought a thrilling battle against the epidemic. We have withstood an arduous historical test and achieved major strategic achievements in this anti-epidemic war. In his speech, President Xi Jinping pointed out: “China’s fight against the epidemic has fully demonstrated the China spirit, China strength, and China responsibility..., and has forged a great spirit of combating the COVID-19 epidemic, which features putting people's lives first, nationwide solidarity, sacrifice, respecting science, and a sense of mission for humanity”. This spirit is an inspiration for the people across the country to bravely fight the epidemic, and it is the development of the great spirit of the Chinese nation in the new era, and will become the power source for the international community to completely defeat the epidemic!
Putting people’s lives first embodies the people-centered pursuit of value. “We can afford everything in order to protect the people's lives and safety!” as said by President Xi Jinping in his remarks at the meeting, is the best interpretation of the governing philosophy of China’s government, as well as the best testimonial of humanism by the people of China. After the outbreak, the Chinese government repeatedly emphasized “putting people’s life safety and health first”, decisively imposed outbound travel restrictions in Wuhan and Hubei, and unreservedly pressed the “pause button” for economic and social development. With great political courage and resolute assumption, we are determined to “not leaving out a single infected person, and never give up on any patient”. In Hubei, where the epidemic hit the worst, more than 3,600 over 80 years old COVID-19 patients have been cured, of which 7 of them are over 100 years old. Zhang Dingyu, the recipient of the “People's Hero” national honorary title once said, “When a patient is in danger, as a medical worker, there is only one thing in my mind, that is to do every possible thing to heal him”. Doing our best to protect human life, value, and dignity when encountering great difficulties and dangers should be the most instinctive, essential and unyielding option of governments of all countries.
Nationwide solidarity embodies the mighty power of unity. Everyone is a soldier facing the epidemic. Almost all industries and occupations in China are either directly or indirectly involved in the epidemic prevention and control. The central government makes strategic decisions, the medical workers fight in the front lines, the scientific researchers tirelessly tackle problems, the army officers and soldiers work round the clock, jointly created miracles of building the Huoshenshan Hospital and Leishenshan Hospital, reconstructing 16 mobile cabin hospitals in large-scale, and setting up more than 600 quarantine centers in just over 10 days. In the history of human development, the spirit of unity has always been the majestic force to overcome difficulties and move forward.
Sacrifice embodies the tenacious will to dare to overwhelm all difficulties. Heroic qualities are only showed in times of crisis. Confronting this grim occasion, anti-epidemic warriors across the nation are not afraid of death and take it calmly. Among them, there are the hospital director who rather missed treatment opportunity but left surviving hope to others, the husband who could never fulfill the wedding promise to his future wife, and the mother who sacrificed to leave young child but report duty to her rescue posting.... Among these over a thousand outstanding individuals who have been commended this time, more than 50 of them have asleep forever in peace under their beloved land. Zhang Boli, the recipient of the “People's Hero” national honorary title wrote a verses when fighting the epidemic at the front line in Wuhan as follows, “The Festival of Lantern is odd as the war against demons is in full swing; We all will be well awaiting triumph with spring flowers”. It demonstrates the dauntless revolutionary optimism of the anti-epidemic personnel sacrificing their lives to accomplish missions and caring for all beings with great love.
Respecting for science embodies the practical characteristics of seeking the truth, being pragmatic, pioneering and innovative. COVID-19 is a new type of infectious disease unknown before. To fully defeat it, we must follow and adopt the scientific methods throughout the entire process of decision-making and command, patient treatment, technical research, and social governance. At the beginning of the epidemic, Chinese scientific researchers cracked the entire gene sequence of the novel corona virus and isolated the virus strain with a amazing speed . In the absence of effective medicines, China integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and successively launched eight versions of the COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment plan, which have been used for reference by many countries; China has made significant progress in the development of COVID-19 vaccines, and three of them have entered the third phase of clinical trials, which is only one step away from production launch. Facts have proved that whenever mankind faces a major crisis, only by insisting to adopt both the scientific and humanistic approaches together can we overcome the difficulties.
A sense for mission of humanity embodies the moral responsibility of mutual interests all over the world. Adhering to the concept of “One World, One Family”, China is not only responsible for the safety and health of its people, but also responsible for global public health. Faced with great pressure on its own epidemic prevention and control, China has provided two batches of US$50 million cash assistance to the World Health Organization, dispatched 34 Medical Expert Teams to 32 countries, provided 283 batches anti-epidemic assistance to 150 countries and 4 international organizations, rendered and exported anti-epidemic materials to more than 200 countries and regions. The world is indeed a community of shared future for mankind, and no country can stay out and keep safe alone amid major crises. Any selfishness, blaming others, reversing right and wrong, and confusing black and white will not only cause harm to its own people, but also affect global pandemic prevention and control. Only unity and cooperation are the right path for the world.
Facing the severe challenge of COVID-19 pandemic, China and Sabah have always been helping each other and sharing weal and woe together, which can be regarded as a model of international mutual assistance and cooperation. The Chinese people will never forget the valuable assistance provided by the Sabah state government and the people during China's most difficult time. After the epidemic outbreak in Sabah, the Chinese Consulate General immediately raised batches of anti-epidemic supplies to help Sabah. The scene of the Chinese Medical Expert Team working in Sabah in April this year is still vivid today. In the future, we will continue to promote international cooperation in epidemic prevention and control, provide anti-epidemic materials to countries around the world, share vaccine development results, work with the Sabah state government and all walks of life to continuously injecting positive energy in fully defeating the epidemic in China and Sabah!
The pandemic is still raging the world. The great spirit of combating the COVID-19 demonstrated by the people of China in this battle could provide infinite spiritual strength for all countries in the world to jointly defeat the epidemic. All counties stand together, unite and cooperate, will surely win this battle. Let’s build a more beautiful home together!