Avoid panic that can lead to secondary disasters: Xi

BEIJING/BERLIN • China must make every effort to maintain economic and social control as it battles the coronavirus epidemic, and avoid causing panic that could lead to secondary "disasters", President Xi Jinping has told senior officials.

Reuters reported last week that Mr Xi had warned officials on Feb 3 that efforts to contain the Covid-19 had gone too far, threatening the economy. Those comments came days before Beijing rolled out measures to soften the blow.

Mr Xi's speech to the Politburo's Standing Committee was published in full by the leading Communist Party theoretical journal Qiushi yesterday.

In the speech, Mr Xi said the epidemic was impacting the economy, especially service industries. Action needed to be taken to maintain the industrial chain and encourage enterprises to resume production.

China "still has to adhere to this year's economic and social development goals", Mr Xi said.

He also stressed that it was necessary to increase financial support such as preferential policies for loan interest rates and terms, and get migrant workers in major industries back to work.

Big projects, especially those in manufacturing, should start construction on time, he said, adding that boosting consumption was an important hedge against the epidemic's impact.

The outbreak had revealed "shortcomings and deficiencies" in national governance, Mr Xi said, such as how the wildlife animal industry had remained huge despite clear risks in its consumption, and how the reserves of health and anti-epidemic materials were seriously inadequate.

Meantime, State Councillor Wang Yi has acknowledged that the epidemic is a deep challenge to China, but defended the country's management of it while lashing out at the "overreaction" of other countries.

In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters on Friday in the German capital, Mr Wang, who is also foreign minister, urged the United States not to take unnecessary measures that could hamper trade, travel and tourism.

"The epidemic overall is under control," he said. "We've taken such complete prevention and control efforts, efforts that are so comprehensive that I can't see any other country that can do this."

The virus, coming on the back of a disruptive trade war between the US and China, has again exposed underlying tensions on multiple fronts between the two sides.

It has also posed one of the toughest challenges for Mr Xi since he assumed power in 2013.

Beijing has criticised the US in particular for taking drastic measures, which have included travel curbs on visitors from China. It was the first to announce that it was evacuating citizens from Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the virus outbreak.

"Some countries have stepped up measures, including quarantine measures, which are reasonable and understandable, but for some countries, they have overreacted, which has triggered unnecessary panic," Mr Wang said.

He also rejected the idea that China was not transparent enough in its initial handling of the outbreak. "From the beginning, we took a very open and transparent manner in releasing information to the international community's cooperation on this effort," he said, noting that fewer than 1 per cent of global cases have been reported outside of China.

The Chinese authorities said the virus has killed 1,523 people and there are 66,492 cases so far in the country.

Mr Wang said: "We have taken the most correct, the most rigorous and decisive measures to fight against the epidemic. Many measures went beyond international health regulations and the (World Health Organisation) recommendations."

REUTERS