“After two-month lockdown, Wuhan City has eased restrictions on traveling in and out of the city since this week. It is a milestone of our domestic anti-virus fight and also gives confidence to people all over the world that we can win the battle within months if we take necessary and effective protective measures. Though the domestic situation makes Chinese people relieved, the rising infection in the rest of the world is quite worrisome,” said Ms. Long Jing

By Genc Mlloja

Senior Diplomatic Editor

“I sincerely hope the new restrictions to contain virus in Albania can be well implemented. Because what you are suffering is what we once experienced in the last two months. Though they might make people uncomfortable, they do work for winning the fight,” has said the well known Chinese political researcher, Dr. Long Jing.

In an exclusive interview with Albanian Daily News Ms. Long, who is Deputy Director of Center for European Studies at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, dwelt on many issues related to the fight against novel coronavirus, its impact on many aspects of life in China, particularly on economy, and rising pandemic worldwide with its expected implications on the global economic order.

Speaking of the protective measures taken in China Dr. Long said that if people hadn’t followed them seriously, due to the high contagion of the novel coronavirus, it would have been impossible to stop the spread of the disease in two months in such a populous country.

In a comment on some complaints at home and abroad why China could not have prevented the viral spread at the beginning of 2020, her answer is that, since the disease is caused by a novel coronavirus, it is a learning process of the features of the virus for Chinese medical scientists. “I personally wonder if there would be any other government as effective as China’s to motivate nationwide efforts in such a short time.”

Asked about the current situation in Shanghai where she lives Ms. Long, who paid a visit to the headquarters of Albanian Daily News in Tirana on February 26, 2018 when she was in Albania on a 3-day visit, said it has been downgraded an emergency response from level I, the most serious, to level II and most of the shopping malls, restaurants, cafés, parks and scenic areas have reopened though schools are still closed so students still have to have their courses online every day. “The daily life is gradually coming back on the normal track, but people are still following the instructions given by the government and specialists, like wearing masks and washing hands often with soap and water.”

Dr. Long found it hard to predict the implications of the epidemic on China’s economy but, however, she had the following comment: “Since the epidemic is very hopefully to be kept in check within the first quarter, its impact on China’s economy might be short-term and controllable for the whole year. However, currently, the world economy has severely been damaged by the worldwide spread of the pandemic.”

The Chinese researcher thought that there might be two scenarios for the future global economic picture of the world. According to her one scenario is that countries are becoming more isolated, not only economically, but also in terms of people-to-people exchange, and the other is that, being aware of the necessity of joint efforts against global crisis, multilateral cooperation and mutual understanding will increase. “In order to make the second scenario come to reality, China, as the second largest economy in the world, will definitely make its own contribution,” said Ms. Long Jing of Center for European Studies at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies in the following interview:

Albanian Daily News: Ms. Long as we are having this interview Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak in China, has begun to loosen its two-month lockdown while more countries worldwide, including Albania, are issuing new restrictions to contain the coronavirus pandemic. How do you feel about these two situations having in common Covid-19 virus?

Ms. Long Jing: After two-month lockdown, Wuhan City has eased restrictions on traveling in and out of the city since this week. It is a milestone of our domestic anti-virus fight and also gives confidence to people all over the world that we can win the battle within months if we take necessary and effective protective measures. Though the domestic situation makes Chinese people relieved, the rising infection in the rest of the world is quite worrisome.

When I accepted this interview, more than 100 cases have been confirmed in Albania. Though the number seems small compared to ours and that of your neighboring country Italy, the risk of large scale infection is high due to the limited medical resource or inefficient protective measures. I sincerely hope the new restrictions to contain virus in Albania can be well implemented. Because what you are suffering is what we once experienced in the last two months. Though they might make people uncomfortable, they do work for winning the fight.

- It is common now the assessment that what China has done is a rare deed with some considering it as mission impossible. Which is the golden key that made this ‘impossibility’ turn into reality for overpowering this frightful epidemic in your country?

-I think there is more than one golden key to turn the impossibility into the reality in China. Firstly, the central government has played the key role. It implemented a series of restrictions as protective measures. It deployed medical resources all around the country to support the most serious epidemic area. It provided preferential policies to ease companies’ pressure caused by the shutdown of the production and service.

Besides, all the Chinese people are also great contributors. They have consciously complied with the requirements set by the government, such as not having family reunions during Spring Festival (though it’s a strong tradition during this most important Chinese holiday), wearing masks when going out, and having self-containment if necessary.

If people hadn’t followed these protective measures seriously, due to the high contagion of the novel coronavirus, it would have been impossible to stop the spread of the disease in two months in such a populous country.

- All eyes were set on China after the outbreak of the epidemic and we could watch what was happening there. However it is difficult to percept the unimaginable fight in the field against Covid-19. Which are some of the main measures taken and do you think they were taken on time?

- Measures were taken to prevent the spread of the virus at different levels. At the national level, measures included extending the public holidays in order to keep people stay at home, deploying nationwide medical resources to support the most serious epidemic areas, etc. At the local level, the provincial governments required the closure of the public places such as movie theatres, restaurants, cafés and other entertainment venues, and built or designated specialized hospitals to treat confirmed patients. At the community level, people were required to provide information about where they had traveled to in the last two weeks so that they could be traced if they had contacted with infected person. And they also needed to do self-containment by one or two weeks.

Thanks to the digital economy quite developed in China, people could order daily supplies on internet and get them by express delivery instead of going out of the residential areas. In a word, it was a nationwide motivation from top to bottom.

Based on the current quite positive situation in China, I think it is right to say most of the measures were taken on time. Maybe there are some complaints at home and abroad why China could not have prevented the viral spread at the beginning of 2020. My answer is that, since the disease is caused by a novel coronavirus, it is a learning process of the features of the virus for our medical scientists and a challenge of the governance capacity for the governments at different levels. No one can foresee the high contagious characteristics until there are a lot of cases to prove it. And once the medical scientists gave the professional advices, the governments alerted people as soon as possible and implemented all the above measures immediately.

I personally wonder if there will be any other government as effective as China’s to motivate nationwide efforts in such a short time.

- Please could you share some highlights of your experience in Shanghai during the time of the quarantine? Had there been cases when your family members or colleagues in the Institute were affected by the virus, and frankly speaking was there fear among you?

- When I am answering this question, Shanghai has less than 450 confirmed cases and large part of them have been cured. As one of the largest cities in the world with a population of 35 million, 450 is a very small number so no one surrounding me is infected by the virus. There was no fear or panic among people in Shanghai even when China was at the most serious situation. There are several reasons behind. Firstly, the daily supply was abundant and prices were almost as same as usual. Secondly, the information provided by the government was quite reliable and timely and measures taken were efficient. So people had plenty of confidence in the government.

Currently, Shanghai has downgraded an emergency response from level I, the most serious, to level II. Most of the shopping malls, restaurants, cafés, parks and scenic areas have reopened though schools are still closed so students still have to have their courses online every day. The daily life is gradually coming back on the normal track, but people are still following the instructions given by the government and specialists, like wearing masks and washing hands often with soap and water.

- Which are the lessons that the world can learn from China’s experience, particularly now when Europe, the US and other countries worldwide are passing hard times with a high number of fatalities as the pandemic is in progress?

-There are many concrete protective measures that the rest of the world can copy from China’s experience. But I think two things are worth of learning by Europe at this very urgent moment: firstly, the governments should take actions with great determination. This means that some measures should be taken by the governments at the cost of the interests of some other sectors if necessary. For example, in China, the extension of the public holidays and the closure of manufacturing and service sectors would definitely cause huge damage to the national economy. But the public health was taken as the priority by the Chinese government in the last two months.

Secondly, raising public awareness is very important. People should take the epidemic seriously and comply with all the instructions at the cost of some personal freedom if necessary. In China, we have witnessed many cases caused by someone infected by the virus but trying to hide his or her traveling record or health conditions.

- Such a titanic fight has, of course, affected severely the Chinese economy and other aspects people’s life. According to your estimations, how long will it take for the restoration of normality?

- It is hard to predict. When the virus was mainly spreading in China, the domestic economy was severely hit and also had ripple effect to the world economy since China is an important part of global supply chains. But China’s central government and the local authorities have taken many tailored measures to revive the economic life. Since the epidemic is very hopeful to be kept in check within the first quarter, its impact on China’s economy might be short-term and controllable for the whole year.

However, currently, the world economy has severely been damaged by the worldwide spread of the pandemic. We have witnessed the crash of the US stock market and the dropping down of the oil price. Different from what it was 17 years ago when the SARS epidemic broke out, Chinese economy is more closely intertwined with the world economy. So the multitude of the economic impact from the COVID-19 outbreak depends on how long it will take to keep the virus under full control not only in China, but also in the rest of the world.

But I believe China will not take a “wait-and-see” attitude. Instead, China will help the rest of the world to defeat the virus and call for joint efforts to deal with the colateral impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

- While recovering China is helping intensively affected countries in Europe. What motivates such solidarity and as a follow up are you satisfied by the reaction of the international community to support China at the hard times of the infection?

- With the full support from the people, Chinese government is trying to help the other countries who are now suffering from the rapid spread of the pandemic. We are doing this because this is a global challenge, and no country could feel safe unless there’s global success in containing this virus. But there are more reasons beside this one. We are more than willing to do this because we are grateful that so many countries came to help and support us when the epidemic broke out in China. We also understand how desperate people would be when the medical resources were badly needed but in short supply. Empathy is the essential component of human society and is also the footstone of our aid to the international community.

Actually, when the epidemic developed quickly in China, I was traveling with my family in New Zealand. I didn’t meet with any discrimination but a lot of blessing from the local people, and our journey back to China was quite smooth.

- Speaking on this sensible topic are there possibilities on the part of China to help Albania where for the sake of the truth there is lack even of masks? And by the way as there is controversy on wearing a mask what would you tell Albanians on this preventive measure?

- I checked the website of Chinese embassy in Albania and found that Ambassador Zhou Ding has already expressed China’s willingness to help Albania and taken many concrete actions. For example, the embassy has introduced Chinese protective measures and therapeutic plans to Albanian Ministry of Health and other related institutions. China has also held a video conference of health experts with 17 Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), including Albania. As I know, Chinese side is studying how to facilitate the customs clearance and overcome the lack of direct flight to provide materials and equipment to Central and Eastern European countries.

From Chinese experience, wearing a mask can be very helpful to prevent the virus. It has been proved that the Covid-19 is a high contagious virus and can spread through sneezing, cough or droplets of saliva. Another characteristic of the disease is the long incubation period. Individuals infected with the coronavirus COVID-19 may go between 5 and 12 days before displaying any symptoms. So just imagine, a man who didn't know he was already infected, went to public places, surrounded by all the people without any protective measures… How serious the result would be. This is maybe why in Italy the Coronavirus outbreak is so bad. By contrast, being used to wearing a mask may also partly explain why the development of the epidemic has been gradually under control in Japan and South Korea now.

- Hopefully soon Covid-19 will remain in the past as a bad dream. After the expected resumption of life as normal how do you see the global economic and political picture of the world? Will the current global economic order remain unchanged or it can be redesigned when there are indications of recession worldwide?

- There might be two scenarios in the future. One is that countries are becoming more isolated, not only economically, but also in terms of people-to-people exchange. Many manufacturing industries are required to flow back in case another global crisis leads to the disruption of global supply chains. More restrictions are implemented for people’s mobilization. The interconnection between countries is decreasing and the de-globalization is speeding up.
The other scenario is that, being aware of the necessity of joint efforts against global crisis, multilateral cooperation and mutual understanding will increase. Countries, especially those with big economies agree to reach deals to stimulate the world economy and also put more resources in building a more effective multilateral platform for non-traditional crisis management. The globalization finds its dynamics again. In order to make the second scenario come to reality, China, as the second largest economy in the world, will definitely make its own contribution.

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Source of documents：Albanian Daily News, March 27, 2020