COORDINATE EPIDEMIC CONTROL WITH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

COORDINATE EPIDEMIC CONTROL WITH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT*

January 2020-July 2022

I

A type of pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus has spread among the people in Wuhan and other areas of Hubei Province. We must give this matter our fullest attention and make every effort to keep it under control. Across the country the people are preparing for the Spring Festival, and a large population is traveling during this short period. This makes the containment of the virus a matter of the greatest urgency. Party committees and governments at all levels and the competent authorities must put people’s lives and health first, make meticulous plans, pool resources from all sectors, and take effective measures to stem the spread of the virus. We should use all possible means to treat patients, identify the dynamics of viral infection and transmission as soon as possible, intensify the monitoring of cases, and improve case-handling procedures. We should provide timely updates on the virus and expand international cooperation. We should strengthen guidance to the public by providing accurate interpretations of policy measures and take firm steps to maintain social stability, so as to ensure that the people have a safe and happy holiday.

(directive on novel coronavirus response, January 20, 2020)

II

The epidemic continues to rage through society. Party committees and governments at all levels must be resolute in implementing the Party Central Committee’s decisions and plans for prevention and control, in strengthening confidence and solidarity, and in employing science based and targeted measures. We must continue the good work already done and stand up to the challenge. With firmer confidence, stronger determination, more decisive measures, and the full support of the people, we will resolutely curb the spread of the epidemic, and finally win the all-out people’s war on the virus.

(from the speech during an inspection of epidemic control efforts
in Beijing, February 10, 2020)

III

When the coronavirus struck, the CPC Central Committee responded to the emergency immediately, exercising centralized, unified leadership over all fronts in the epidemic response and making timely decisions.

On January 7, I presided over a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and issued instructions on our epidemic response. On January 20, I issued further instructions requiring Party committees and governments at all levels and the competent authorities to put people’s lives and health above all else and take resolute and effective action to stem the spread of the virus.

On January 25, the first day of the Chinese New Year, I presided over another meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau on epidemic control and made further plans to mobilize more resources to contain the virus. We decided to set up the Central Leading Group for Coronavirus Response, and send a central steering group to Hubei Province to oversee the local epidemic response. We also instructed the State Council to make well-coordinated efforts through its joint prevention and control mechanism. 

After that, I chaired three more meetings of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and one meeting of the Political Bureau, all to discuss ways to conduct epidemic control and reopen the economy.

On February 10, I reviewed epidemic prevention and control work in Beijing. I talked online to frontline health workers in Wuhan City and the rest of Hubei, and heard the reports of the central steering group and the Hubei epidemic response command center. I also chaired meetings of the Central Commission for Law-based Governance, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the Central Commission for Further Reform, and the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, setting requirements for response measures on different fronts.

The Party Central Committee issued the Notice on Strengthening Party Leadership and Providing Strong Political Support for the Epidemic Response. I have closely followed progress in virus control and given verbal and written instructions daily. With timely planning and action by the Central Leading Group for Coronavirus Response, specific directions and coordination from the central steering group, strong coordination by the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism, and strenuous efforts by Party committees and governments at all levels, a powerful synergy has been formed in the race to fight the virus.

(from the speech at a meeting on coordinating the epidemic
response with economic and social development,
February 23, 2020)

IV

The economy and society, being dynamic in nature, cannot stop functioning for long. While ensuring effective Covid-19 control, we should resume the operation of enterprises and public institutions and restore the normal order of people’s work and life in places that are less affected by the coronavirus. This is necessary in order to ensure adequate supplies for disease control, people’s basic living, and social stability. This is essential for us to meet the targets for this year’s economic and social development, build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and achieve the goals of the 13th Five-year Plan for Economic and Social Development. It is also important to our opening-up initiative and to global economic stability.

Covid-19 will inevitably exert a negative impact on the economy and society. In such a challenging time, we must be more confident about our development in the long run and view it from a comprehensive and dialectical perspective.

(from the speech at a meeting on coordinating the epidemic
response with economic and social development,
February 23, 2020)

V

A significant transformation has taken place in epidemic control both at home and abroad in the month since the last meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on February 21. We are replacing the previous emergency response measures with a regularized prevention and control approach. In contrast to the positive progress in China, the epidemic is sweeping other parts of the world. Inbound cases now make up the majority of new cases in China, and the numbers are rising rapidly. Across the country, 23 coastal, border and inland provinces have reported inbound cases and related local infections. Coinciding with the threat presented by inbound cases, the risk of local transmission is also growing as a result of the increasing flows and gathering of people brought about by the return to economic and social order. Prevention work and public vigilance are apt to slacken. All this makes it harder and more complex to consolidate the epidemic control results. In view of these changes, I have required an adjustment to the national epidemic response strategy to prevent both inbound infections and domestic resurgence.

It should be noted that this change in our epidemic response strategy does not mean that we can relax our efforts. I have repeated on many occasions that we must be ready to tighten epidemic control whenever necessary, and never declare success until we achieve full victory. Our previous efforts must not be wasted. We should never think that the race is won and we can rest on our laurels. We must be well aware that a resurgence of the disease will lead to a sharp increase in cases. Now that the epidemic is affecting the whole world, we should not think that China will remain safe. We must lose no time improving working mechanisms and measures adapted to the new epidemic response strategy, and continue with the work of guarding against inbound cases and the resurgence of the virus within the country. 

(from the speech at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the 19th
CPC Central Committee on further coordinating the epidemic
response with economic and social development, March 27, 2020)

VI

In the face of a severe epidemic and a complex economic situation across the world, we should prepare ourselves fully for worst-case scenarios and for long-term changes in the international environment. We need to coordinate Covid-19 control with economic and social development: keep up our guard against inbound cases and the resurgence of the virus within the country, and intensify efforts to promote economic and social development. We should accelerate the return to normal work and life in our regularized epidemic prevention and control, solve the problems in reopening the economy, and minimize the losses caused by the epidemic, so that we can still achieve our goals of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and winning the battle to eliminate poverty.

(from the speech at a meeting of the Standing Committee of
the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee,
April 8, 2020)

VII

We must implement the Party Central Committee’s decisions and plans in full. Following the fundamental principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, and upholding the new development philosophy, we should seek to stabilize employment, finance, foreign trade, inbound investment, domestic investment, and market expectations, and guarantee jobs, daily living needs, food and energy security, industrial and supply chains, the operation of market players, and the smooth functioning of grassroots government. We should overcome the adverse impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, complete our poverty elimination tasks and goals, and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. 

(from the speech during a visit to Shaanxi Province,
April 20-23, 2020)

VIII

In fighting against Covid-19, practice has proven again that prevention is the most economical and effective health strategy. We should review our experience and draw lessons from this. While implementing regularized response measures, we should make more precise and effective prevention efforts as early as possible, adopt reforms to improve the disease prevention and control system and the assessment, research and decision-making mechanisms for major public health threats, initiate new mechanisms for increasing collaboration between hospitals and disease control agencies, improve the joint prevention and control mechanism and the major epidemic treatment network, strengthen our capacity in early monitoring, early warning, rapid virus testing, emergency response, and comprehensive treatment, and further implement public health campaigns to prevent and control major diseases at source. 

(from the speech at a joint panel discussion of CPPCC
National Committee members from the healthcare and
education circles during the Fourth Session of the 13th
CPPCC National Committee, March 6, 2021) 

IX

The requirements of responding effectively to Covid-19, maintaining economic stability, and ensuring security in development should be considered an integral whole, to be implemented and assessed as such. Upward momentum in economic development should be maintained in order to achieve the best results possible. We need to coordinate our Covid-19 response with economic and social development in a more effective way.

(from the speech at a meeting with prominent non-CPC
individuals, July 25, 2022)

* Excerpts from speeches made between January 2020 and July 2022.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)