Rudaw English sat with Erbil’s Chinese Consul General Ni Ruchi on Thursday to discuss the country’s response to the global coronavirus outbreak and the impact on Chinese nationals in the Kurdistan Region.
The Consul emphasized the need to remain calm, and hopes that the situation in China will return to normal in a matter of weeks.
He also thanked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for their support to the Chinese people against the virus which “knows no borders”.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Rudaw: Can you tell us about the latest developments from China on the virus?
Since the outbreak of the virus, the Chinese government has taken a very quick reaction to control this virus. We (quarantined) the city of Wuhan which has more than 11 million people there, and also we sent more than 32,000 doctors and nurses from other cities to Wuhan to go to help them. We built two big hospitals within 10 days, the first one can receive more than 1,000 patients and the second one has more than 4000 beds. We also turned a lot of schools, hotels and exhibition centers into mobile hospitals- which can receive more and more patients. People are sitting in their homes and don’t travel outside. After these measures we have taken I think the situation is better.
Now I can tell you the latest data- yesterday we had 29 deaths. Months before, we had a lot of deaths every day. Also yesterday , the new confirmed cases were only 430. Compared with before- thousands of people- it’s much lower. The number of people discharged from hospital is more than 3,000 people. The latest data means that the situation is much better than before and we hope that after 10 days or two weeks we can control the situation, the virus, and go back to the normal stage before the virus.
The World Health Organization is commending your job at containing the virus and saying that many countries around the world that are facing the threat of the virus can actually learn from what China has done. Can you identify any particular lessons that the KRG or Iraq can learn from how China dealt with the virus?
Yes. First of all, I think everyone should not panic, to be calm. This is very important. Panic is useless for fighting against the virus. Second, we can take necessary measures to prevent and control the virus, for example I heard from the KRG that they closed the schools and some of the restaurants and refused travelling and gatherings between people. I think these are necessary measures they are taking. Also, because this is a new virus, we don’t know it very well. Chinese doctors and scientists are working hard to find the result and the treatment- I think we have a lot of information about the virus and the way of treatment, so also we can share this with other countries like the KRG.
It’s abundantly clear that there’s been a global rise in xenophobia since the onset of the coronavirus and the paranoia that is has spread. What particular concerns do Chinese nationals living and working within the Kurdistan Region have?
Honestly, I think the virus does have some negative impact on the economic development of China, and also the social development. Of course, some of the people travelling between places has taken it to different countries and regions. People find it difficult to come here, but I think the economic cooperation between China and Kurdistan has a long history, we have many projects in the Kurdistan Region by Chinese companies and we also have more than 2,000 people working here in the Kurdistan Region, so we can continue these projects. On the other hand, now maybe we cannot communicate face-to-face, but we can communicate through internet, email and other ways. Once the situation is China has been controlled, I think the Chinese companies will come back to continue the cooperation with the Kurdistan Region.
Beyond the economic implications of the virus- we’ve done some reporting on Chinese restaurants taking a dip in sales due to fear of the coronavirus-are you hearing of your constituents having more antagonistic encounters with people in Kurdistan? Have any Chinese nationals been mistreated here because of the virus?
Up until now, I haven’t heard of this in the Kurdistan Region- people are very friendly. I thank the KRG government, Mr Qubad Talabani, the Deputy Prime Minister for making a special visit to me in our consulate general on behalf of the KRG to express their support to the Chinese people. Also, these days, many people from different parts of governmental departments and schools, universities, commercial sectors came to us to express their support. It’s really very valuable for us: it gives us power and confidence to win the battle against the virus. I haven’t seen anything bad things here in the Kurdistan Region. Of course we have heard some of the cases in other places, but the virus has no border. It is a global threat, a global challenge to all mankind, so we should join together and unite to fight against the virus. We need the science- based response, not a racism-based one. So I am very happy to see that in the Kurdistan region that we have not seen anything that makes people sad.
What are your thoughts on the news coverage on the coronavirus both in the Kurdistan Region and globally?
I think we should focus on the official data. At the beginning of the virus, the Chinese government cooperated with international departments like WHO and international community openly, transparently and comprehensively. Every day we deliver the information to the public and I think this is the best way to get more information on the virus=not rehearsing something and telling people something very far from the truth. I think the press and if people want to get information, they can go to government official sites.
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