As the Chinese people stand united in the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, African scholars and officials have expressed their deepest sympathy and concern to their Chinese friends.

They praised the Chinese Government for taking effective measures to fight the virus and the Chinese people’s strong determination against the epidemic. They expressed sincere hope that the Chinese people can defeat the outbreak as soon as possible to restore the vitality of the country, especially Wuhan, the hardest-hit and frontline city. African people will stand in solidarity with the Chinese people in the fight against the epidemic.

Alpha Jalloh, Director of the China-Africa Institute under the University of Makeni, Sierra Leone, wrote in a message that “we stand by you in this difficult time as we await to see a speedy end to this devilish disease.”

Edith Phaswana, head of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute at the University of South Africa, sent a message of support with other African scholars. “We have learned with great sadness about the outbreak of the coronavirus which has claimed many lives in Wuhan.”

Scholars expressed their regret that the rapid spread of the virus has been accompanied by misinformation and hoaxes online, as well as false claims about its source, its spread and how to treat it.

“We would like to pledge our unwavering support in the spirit of a brighter future for mankind. In the past, Africa faced similar challenges at the outbreak of the HIV and Ebola epidemics. It is unfortunate that the outbreak of epidemics such as these are used to denigrate and undermine the capacity of developing countries and to perpetuate the loss of lives,” the scholars said in the message.

“We are in no doubt that China has the capacity to deal with this epidemic and we are confident that our Chinese friends will emerge stronger beyond this,” the message read.

These African scholars and officials have all participated in the Seminar on Governance Capacity for African Countries held by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the China-Africa Institute in 2018 and 2019, which aims to strengthen China-Africa people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, promote the Belt and Road cooperation in African countries, and set up a platform for cooperation among China, African governments and think tanks.