CANBERRA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China has been generous and fair and acted as a true friend when many other countries are still struggling to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, said Andrew Forrest, founder of the Australian philanthropic organization the Minderoo Foundation.

Forrest, also the founder of global leading iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group, said his foundation has procured over 90 tons of critical medical supplies, such as face masks, medical coveralls and ICU-grade ventilators, from China earlier this month to help deal with Australia's COVID-19 emergency.

"We are receiving great support from China," he told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

Noting that he first went to China 31 years ago, Forrest said "three decades are a long time to get to know a country and get to know a country's people."

"People who I speak to all across China -- the people I speak to in Beijing, the people I speak to in Shanghai, the people I speak to in Wuhan, and everywhere in China -- they're concerned about helping Australia, and that makes me proud to be their friend," he said.

Dismissing claims that China helps other countries to boost its own image, he said "if China was not helping Italy, not helping Spain, not helping Australia, then the world would be a much worse place."

"I know that China's even helped North America as much as it can even though it's receiving criticism from North America," he added.

Those who "spent a lot of time blaming other people and other countries are ... trying to protect their own reputations, not spending time solving problems," he noted.

"If you've got time to run around blaming people, then you're not putting enough time into caring for your people and solving the national problem," he said.

"Pandemics have started in Europe, started in America, started in Asia and started in Africa," he said. "They have started anywhere. It's not important where the pandemic starts. It's very important how the pandemic is put to an end."

Forrest said the Fortescue Metals Group donated one million Australian dollars (about 600,000 U.S. dollars) in February to China's Wuhan amid the outbreak, to convert a local sports stadium into a 388-bed makeshift hospital.

"I think Australia and China can cooperate," he said, adding that he hopes the mutual help between the two countries amid the pandemic could set an example.

"We should take advantage of the fact that there's been a much warmer relationship when we've helped each other in a crisis," he said.

Such cooperation could become a mechanism, so that in the future when there are some other events, the two countries could help each other again, and together help the rest of the world, he said.

"We have some of the world's best experts. So does China. We need to make sure that the scientific teams work very closely together," he said, adding his foundation will have much to do with China in the future, to "make sure the two countries are capable to address and defeat the next pandemic."

"These are things which we can all work on together to make sure our world is kinder, safer, and more environmentally friendly for our children," he said. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)