On 9 March, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi took a phone call from First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab of the UK.

Rabb said that the UK is deeply impressed by China's comprehensive and strong measures to curb the COVID-19 outbreak, and thanked the Chinese side for assistance and help to the UK nationals in China. The UK looks forward to deepening cooperation with China, as the outbreak continues to play out, to seek long-term partnership on global health issues. The UK takes an open, non-discriminatory attitude to investment from Chinese companies, and looks forward to closer cooperation with China on finance, trade liberalization, investment agreement and climate change.

Wang said that China has been at the forefront of the battle against the COVID-19 outbreak and has effectively brought domestic spread under control. China's efforts have protected the health and safety of its own people, and bought precious time for other countries to prevent and control the outbreak. At present, the disease has broken out in multiple countries and is spreading on a wider scale, pointing up the urgency of international cooperation for a joint response.

Wang said that President Xi Jinping talked with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the phone not long ago. The two leaders reached extensive common understandings on how the two countries shall work together to tackle the outbreak and advance China-UK relations. China is prepared to work with the UK to deliver the two leaders' agreement on building the "Golden Era" of China-UK relations. China again thanks the royal family, government and people of the UK for supporting China in curbing the outbreak. Although there was some increase in confirmed cases in the UK recently, China is confident that with its well-developed, highly competent public health system, the UK will bring the situation under effective control. China and the UK can do more together on epidemic prevention and control, including developing a partnership on global health issues. This could become a new dimension in the China-UK comprehensive strategic partnership, representing new progress in building the "Golden Era" of China-UK relations.

Wang said that China appreciates the UK's fair and objective stance on 5G-related issues. This is consistent with the UK's efforts to provide a fair and non-discriminatory business environment for all foreign companies. It will also contribute to a more investment-friendly environment in the UK as well as to the mutually-beneficial economic ties between our two countries. There are broad prospects for China-UK cooperation in many fields, from finance, trade and investment to climate change.