In a clean-chit to itself, China publishes white paper on COVID-19 fight

Beijing [China], June 8 : China has issued a white paper on the country's battle against COVID-19, exonerating itself from the global allegations of delay in reporting the pandemic outbreak, Xinhua reported.
Facing this "unknown, unexpected, and devastating" disease, China launched a resolute battle to prevent and control its spread, said the white paper, issued on Sunday, titled "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action."
China has for now succeeded in cutting all channels for the transmission of the virus, the paper said but noted that the virus is currently wreaking havoc throughout the world.
"China firmly believes that as long as all countries unite and cooperate to mount a collective response, the international community will succeed in overcoming the pandemic, and will emerge from this dark moment in human history into a brighter future," it said.
The COVID-19 epidemic, as a major public health emergency, has spread faster and wider than any other since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and has proven to be the most difficult to contain, said the white paper.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, had taken personal command, planned the response, overseen the general situation and acted decisively, pointing the way forward in the fight against the epidemic, it further said.
"This highly efficient system has made it possible for China to win its all-out people's war against the virus," it added.
The paper gave many more lengthy explanations to refute the allegations of cover-up and delay by Beijing on reporting the COVID-19 outbreak last year in Wuhan.
US President Donald Trump and leaders of several countries have accused China of not being transparent in reporting the deadly disease, leading to huge human casualties and economic crisis across the world.
According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the coronavirus has infected over 68,00,000 people and killed nearly 4,00,000 across the world. The US is the worst affected country with over 1.9 million cases and more than 1,09,000 deaths, while the total number of cases in China stand at 84,177.
The contagion has also battered the world economy with the IMF saying that the global economy, which was in a sluggish recovery even before the coronavirus outbreak, is now bound to suffer a "severe recession" in 2020. The World Bank has also called for countries to step up efforts to fight the disease and improve the economy.