On 8 February, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone call with Foreign Minister Amadou Ba of Senegal, co-chair country of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on the African side.

The Senegalese foreign minister said that President Macky Sall highly commends China for its robust and efficient measures against the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) outbreak and firmly believes that the Chinese people will prevail over the current difficulties. China provided strong support to Senegal when West Africa was hit by the Ebola outbreak in 2014. At a difficult moment like this, President Sall and the government and people of Senegal stand firmly with China and are confident in Chinese people's resilience to withstand the pressure and swiftly defeat the epidemic.

Wang updated Foreign Minister Ba on China's ongoing efforts against the NCP outbreak. He emphasized that the Chinese people are making all-out efforts in this united fight and will definitely defeat the epidemic at an early date. The Chinese side will protect the health and safety of the Senegalese nationals in China and respond to their legitimate concerns. He expressed confidence that China will emerge stronger from the outbreak and achieve even more sustainable development.

Wang said that as comprehensive strategic cooperative partners, China and Senegal have always stood side by side when we need each other, come rain or shine. When West Africa was struck by Ebola, Chinese personnel were the first to offer help against all odds. When Western countries were evacuating their staff, Chinese diplomats and medical experts chose to stay. We will never forget that at this crucial moment in China's fight against the NCP outbreak, we have the staunch support from Senegal and other African countries. It is our belief that the upcoming African Union Summit will also send a unified message in support of China. As FOCAC co-chairs, China and Senegal need to take the 20th anniversary of FOCAC as an opportunity and bring China-Africa cooperation to a higher level by implementing the important common understandings of our presidents and the follow-up actions of the FOCAC Beijing Summit.