On May 22, Ambassador Liu Xiaoming gave an interview to James Owen on CGTN Special Programme “China’s Political Season” broadcast. CGTN Global Business also broadcast part of the interview. The transcript of the broadcast interview is as follows:

James Owen: I asked the Chinese Ambassador to the UK what the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic would mean for the Two Sessions.

Ambassador Liu: I think the Two Sessions are a very important event in China every year. It is a platform where major policies will be announced. It is also a window for the outside world to understand and to follow China. But this year the Two Sessions are of extraordinary significance: It will be held against the extraordinary backdrop of the outbreak of the pandemic. So it carries a lot of new messages.

I think the sheer number of delegates attending the Sessions itself will be significant enough to catch the eye and to catch the attention of the world. I think this will be the largest gathering of the people since the outbreak. There will be about 3,000 NPC deputies and about 2,000 members of the CPPCC National Committee. So, 5,000 people will be gathering under one roof. So that shows the confidence of China, both in terms of containing the virus and also shows the confidence of China to look forward.

James Owen: I've been talking to China's Ambassador to the UK. I asked him for his analysis of where he thought UK-China relations stood and what he thought could lie ahead for the two countries.

Ambassador Liu: I feel confident about the China-UK relations. I think both President Xi and Prime Minister Johnson reaffirmed their commitment to the “Golden Era” of China-UK relations. And we have very good cooperation in fighting against the virus. We supported each other. We provided medical supplies to each other. The experts of our two countries shared experience and the scientists of our two countries worked very hard on vaccine. Other people of our two countries show sympathy and support each other. Many Chinese businesses here in the UK and even in China donated the most needed medical supplies. And here in UK we also received donations from people. I received a lot of letters of sympathy and support from all walks of life in UK. So I feel very confident about China-UK relations. I think this relationship will be stronger, the cooperation between our two countries will be broader and the friendship between our two peoples will be deeper.