The article “China and Covid-19: what went wrong in Wuhan?” (The Big Read, October 19) made groundless accusations about China’s handling of the epidemic and its criticism of China’s social system is unreasonable and even misleading.

Under the strong leadership of the Communist party, the Chinese government and people have achieved remarkable outcomes and initial success in epidemic prevention and control, by taking the most comprehensive, strict and thorough measures the world has ever seen.

Facts have proved that these measures were timely, decisive and effective. As a result, China prevented hundreds of thousands of infections and slowed down the spread, buying time for the world in tackling of the virus

China was the first to inform the World Health Organization and the international community of the outbreak, to release the genome sequence and to share control and treatment experience with the world without reservation and actively carried out international co-operation on Covid-19 containment.

There was no cover-up or delay. China’s record is clean and can stand the test of time. Covid-19 is a completely new virus. Its origin is a scientific and professional issue that should be left to the scientists to find out after serious and responsible studies.

China supports a review into this outbreak led by the WHO at an appropriate time so as to promote international health co-operation and improve global public health governance, so that the international community will be better equipped to safeguard life, safety and health of the people in the world.

Covid-19 has dealt a severe blow to the world economy. China’s success in co-ordinating epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development offers a useful experience to share. In the first three quarters of 2020, China’s economic growth turned from negative to positive. The third quarter saw a much faster growth rate of 4.9 per cent. China’s economic performance is absolutely good news and has played a positive role in driving global economic recovery

We urge the Financial Times to respect facts and adhere to the principles of objectiveness and fairness.