The Meeting between the Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

My father sent me a voice message. He hesitated and said, “If the Lebanese Embassy and Jordan coordinate well, will you return with them?” I replied, “I don't trust our country. In fact, even if I contracted the coronavirus, they don't know how to treat me. The Chinese here are more experienced. The most important thing is that I entered China through the ‘door' and I will not go out through the ‘window'. I will leave Wuhan under two situations below. One situation is that if the Chinese say that all foreigners should leave. The second situation is that when the city reopens and resumes its natural state, as soon as I arrive at the airport, I can leave naturally by plane. The evacuation is due to some political pressure exerted by Western countries trying to distort and destroy the image of China. They said that China could not control the epidemic. When I decided to stay, I was motivated by a political stance, not just for health considerations.”

The father replied, “Okay, son, take care of yourself, take precautions,wear a mask, and obediently stay at home.”

I made some explanations on the evacuation process and attached conditions on the homepage of the Wuhan Lebanese Social Media Group.In particular, China required all evacuees to be quarantined for 14 days when they arrived at the first location. Therefore, if the Lebanese are evacuated together with the nationals of any other country, it means that we will be isolated in a third country. This is one of the strict measures taken by China to prevent the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan and the world. This is also the reason why China has not agreed to the U.S. evacuation request.

I also wrote that if I contract COVID-19, I would rather stay in China for treatment.

The Director of the Consular Department of the Lebanese Embassy in China commented on my content, “Sorry for the late reply, I am the Director of the Consular Department of the Lebanese Embassy in China.I have already explained what happened on the homepage of the Lebanese Group in China.” He was referring to a group of about 200 Lebanese from various cities in China. “In fact, you are 100% correct. In this case,you cannot evacuate. I have explained the Chinese government's measures.There is no need to evacuate or panic. It is the best to treat suspected or confirmed cases of the new coronavirus locally. The Chinese expert team can control the epidemic.”

This was the first official comment we received from the Lebanese Embassy. It is very important for us to receive this information, and which is also precious to Lebanese living in other cities, even if they are not currently threatened by the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The director of the consular department also sent a voice message to the group, summarizing the content of the meeting between the diplomats and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs he participated in. He said,“There were more than one hundred people attending this meeting. This was a long meeting lasting more than four hours.” He went on to say that the Chinese government explained to them what they have done since the outbreak of the coronavirus. Efforts included measures such as closing the city, allocating medical teams, and mobilizing the army. They also introduced China's national defense strategy to control the epidemic.There are two main points to note: First, although the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus has increased, the epidemic is under control, so there is no need to panic; Second, prevention is by far the most effective control method. The most important measures are to wear a mask, stay at home, pay attention to personal hygiene, and avoid contact with live animals.

Regarding the evacuation of overseas citizens from Wuhan, he said that the Chinese side “does not recommend or encourage hasty evacuation, because it is easier to control the development of the epidemic by confining personnel to one place makes”. As for those three or four countries that insisted on the evacuation of overseas citizens, China will provide these countries with necessary assistance and convenience in accordance with international practices, because China has no intention of restricting their freedom. The director of the consular department also said, “In addition, China has significantly disseminated targeted media to control the situation, which has been praised by the World Health Organization. Every step of China's measures will be in consultation with the World Health Organization. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is very confident. I assure you that there is no danger for foreigners in China,especially in Wuhan. They treat Chinese and foreigners equally. They also provide us with a hotline when necessary.” Then, he wrote on the number on the homepage.

The importance of this meeting is to let us be aware of what the Chinese government was thinking and doing. This meeting is also extremely important on the political level, because it is the first international meeting since Wuhan was closed down, and it was held in the presence of the diplomats from most embassies in China. Therefore,the rest of the world could benefit early from China's experience. At that time, most of the confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus were still concentrated in Wuhan, China. On the day of the meeting, China reported 1,771 new confirmed cases, including 1,291 new cases in Hubei and 892 new cases in Wuhan. Internationally, as of January 27, there were 37 cases of infection, including 5 cases in the United States, and most of the remaining infected people were distributed in East Asia, especially Japan,South Korea and Singapore.