BEIJING, July 12 (INP): China has reassured its continued healthcare support to Pakistan to control the deadly virus, COVID-19.

In a statement, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Zhao Lijian said helping Pakistan to build the Isolation Hospital and Infections Treatment Center (IHITC) was an important consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries during Pakistani President Alvi's visit to China in March this year.

“Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides. The hospital, built within only three months, will be helpful in Pakistan's fight against the epidemic after it starts running.

China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and iron-clad friends sharing weal and woe. We will never forget the precious assistance we received from the Pakistani side at the most trying moment of our combat against the pandemic.

We will continue supporting Pakistan to the best of our capability and in accordance with its needs. We will work with Pakistan to safeguard public health security in both countries and around the world, and build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future. Long live China-Pakistan friendship,” he added.

Meanwhile, at a regular news briefing, the spokesperson, while commenting on US’s decision of imposing sanctions on multiple Chinese officials in Xinjiang, said, the US practice constitutes serious interference in China's internal affairs, severe violation of basic norms governing international relations, and grave harm to China-US relations. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns that.

“ In response to its wrongdoing, China decides to take reciprocal measures against US agencies and individuals with egregious practices on Xinjiang-related issues.

Xinjiang affairs are entirely China's internal affairs. The US has no right and is in no position to intervene. The Chinese government is determined to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, combat violent terrorism, separatism and religious extremism, and oppose foreign interference in Xinjiang affairs and China's other internal affairs. We urge the US to immediately rescind its wrong decision and stop making any remarks or moves that interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine China's interests. The Chinese side will firmly fight back if the US obstinately pursues such agenda, “he added.

To a question, Zhao Lijian said, China and the WHO have been in close communication and cooperation since the epidemics broke out. Now China is undertaking an arduous task of preventing both case import and domestic resurgence, and we are the first to invite WHO experts to discuss science-based origin tracing.

It is our contribution to global public health cooperation as a responsible major country. By contrast, the US has been shirking its own responsibilities and undermining global solidarity in combating the virus by declaring to exit the WHO, politicizing matters related to the pandemic and smearing others.