China to donate COVID-19 vaccines to Afghanistan: diplomat

GENEVA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China will donate, in the first batch, 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Afghanistan, with more emergency supplies to follow, a senior Chinese diplomat said here on Monday.

China has decided to urgently provide food, materials for winter, COVID-19 vaccines, and medicines worth 200 million yuan to Afghanistan, said Chen Xu, head of the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva.

China has always respected the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan as its close neighbor, adhered to non-interference in its internal affairs and pursued a friendly policy towards all Afghan people, Chen said.

"China will continue to respect the Afghan people's wish and needs, and do its best to support Afghanistan in its peaceful reconstruction and economic development," the Chinese envoy told the High-level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan.

Chen also said that China supports the UN in playing a bigger role in alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and helping Afghanistan achieve a smooth transition and embark on the path of peaceful development at an early date.

"China welcomes UN's flash appeal for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, support UN to strengthen cooperation with other multilateral mechanisms related to the Afghanistan issue and form synergy by complementing each other," he noted.

He told the meeting that under the current circumstances, the international community needs to step up assistance to Afghanistan.

The United States and its allies were more obligated to provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, he said.

"The evolving situation of Afghanistan once again shows that only by respecting the sovereignty, independence and territory integrity of Afghanistan, respecting the will of the Afghan people, and adhering to the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned principle can the international community truly play a constructive role in Afghanistan's peaceful reconstruction," he said.