JoongAng Ilbo:The leaders of the United States and South Korea pledged to strengthen US-ROK alliance after they met in Washington on May 21. What is China's position on this? When will China have face-to-face summit with other countries? Do you have any plan for that?

Zhao Lijian: We noted the relevant content of the joint statement of the US and the ROK and are concerned about that. We believe that the development of US-ROK relations should be conducive to promoting regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, rather than the opposite, still less harmful to the interests of third parties including China.

The joint statement mentioned issues related to Taiwan and the South China Sea. The Taiwan question is China's internal affair. It bears on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and allows no interference by external forces. We urge relevant countries to speak and act prudentially on the Taiwan question and refrain from playing with fire. With regard to the South China Sea issue, all countries enjoy the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, and there is no problem with it. Relevant countries know these very clearly.

As to international order, I want to stress that there is only one system in the world, and it is the UN-centered international order; there is only one set of rules, and it is the basic norms governing international relations with the UN Charter as its cornerstone. Neither one nor several countries are entitled to define what the international order is, still less to impose their standard on others. China always opposes relevant countries in creating small cliques targeting other countries including the "Quad" and "Indo-Pacific strategy". Such unpopular practice will not succeed and will only lead to a dead end.  

On your second question, I have no information to offer at this moment.

CCTV: On May 21, President Xi Jinping attended and addressed the Global Health Summit via video link, putting forward five points on what needs to be done to strengthen international anti-epidemic cooperation. President Xi also announced a series of specific measures that China would take to support global fight against the epidemic. There is a lot of attention on China's announcement of an additional 3 billion US dollars in international aid over the next three years. Can you tell us a bit more?

Zhao Lijian: On May 21, President Xi Jinping attended the Global Health Summit via video link upon invitation and delivered an important speech. President Xi put forward five proposals and announced five major measures to promote international anti-epidemic cooperation, charting the course for an early victory over the COVID-19 and an early recovery of the global economy. It is of great significance for boosting multilateralism, promoting international anti-epidemic cooperation and leading the reform of global health governance system.

First, President Xi shared China's anti-epidemic experience in all respects at the meeting. He stressed that to completely defeat the virus, we must put people's lives and health front and center, and truly respect the value and dignity of every human life. We should advocate the spirit of science, adopt a science-based approach, and follow the law of science. We must coordinate pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, balance targeted routine COVID-19 protocols and emergency measures, and ensure both epidemic control and socio-economic development. These ideas and propositions are warmly received as they have been proved to be effective in China's practice, and meet the needs of countries in the fight against the virus.

Second, in the face of new challenges brought by the resurgence of infections, President Xi Jinping emphasized again at the summit that we humanity rise and fall together with a shared future. We must champion the vision of building a global community of health for all, tide over this trying time through solidarity and cooperation, and firmly reject any attempt to politicize, label or stigmatize the virus. Political manipulation would not serve COVID-19 response on the domestic front. It would only disrupt international cooperation against the virus and bring greater harm to people around the world.

In fact, "solidarity" and "cooperation" are the most frequently used words in President Xi's remarks. He has made it clear that solidarity and cooperation is the most powerful weapon to defeat the virus and that cooperation is like the sunshine that can dispel the dark clouds of COVID-19.

Third, in response to the increasingly acute problem of uneven vaccination worldwide, President Xi pointed out that it is imperative for us to reject vaccine nationalism and find solutions to issues concerning the production capacity and distribution of vaccines, in order to make vaccines more accessible and affordable in developing countries. Major vaccine-developing and producing countries need to take up their responsibility to provide more vaccines to developing countries in urgent need. Multilateral financial institutions should provide inclusive financing support for vaccine procurement of developing countries.

President Xi announced that China will provide still more vaccines to the best of its ability. China supports its vaccine companies in transferring technologies to other developing countries and carrying out joint production with them. Having announced support for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, China also supports the World Trade Organization and other international insti