When Fiji is in need, China is always there to help

Excerpt from Global Times

On January 4, with the title of “Australia’s Influence in Pacific Islands Grows as China’s Wanes,” an article from Bloomberg News claimed that during the COVID-19 epidemic period, “China has largely been missing” in anti-epidemic support for South Pacific island countries. Meanwhile, the article noted that the Australian government promised to allocate a A$500 million (US$387.8 million) package including COVID-19 vaccines for Pacific neighbors to help their recovery from the epidemic.

Indeed, Australia has gradually increased its support for island countries such as Fiji in recent years. The relationship between the two countries has been restored to a close partnership from the freezing point after the 2006 coup.

But is China really doing nothing in the South Pacific as the Bloomberg article had claimed?

From the perspective of a person living in Fiji, China’s help and support is everywhere. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19epidemic, China has done its best to help the South Pacific island countries. The Chinese government shared timely epidemic information, prevention and treatment experience and medical research results with the island leaders. Moreover, the Chinese governments at all levels, Chinese enterprises and local Chinese associations have been actively providing anti-epidemic funds and medical material assistance to the island countries.

Since March 2020, Chinese experts have conducted open forum discussions with their counterparts from the South Pacific island countries in terms of basic information, pathogenesis, and prevention and control of the virus. This kind of open discussion is particularly important for island countries with lagged virus information. Fiji, Samoa, and other countries have maintained the world’s leading anti-epidemic achievements due to the implementation of good virus detection and isolation systems.