China firmly stands by Qatar for World Cup

China firmly supports the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and believes that Qatar is capable of hosting a wonderful World Cup in a unique Arab style, which will "inject the positive energy of unity and solidarity into this turbulent world", Chinese ambassador to Qatar Zhou Jian has stressed. Speaking to the media at the Chinese embassy Wednesday, he emphasised the stand of China backing Qatar regarding the World Cup and expressed his country's full understanding and appreciation of the great efforts exerted to host such a global event.

Public can meet pandas soon: envoy Within just a few days, the two giant pandas brought from China to Qatar - Suhail (Jing Jing) and Thuraya (Si Hai) - will come out of quarantine and officially meet the public in Qatar, adding a sense of excitement to the festive atmosphere in Qatar, Chinese ambassador Zhou Jian said yesterday. Last month, Qatar became the first country in the Middle East to have giant pandas, and the 20th in the world, when the two pandas arrived in the country. A grand ceremony was held at their new habitat - Panda House in Al Khor - to welcome the pandas.

"We have also noticed that some political forces do not wish to see the success of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. It reminds me of the same smear campaign that hit the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year. Whenever there is a major or happy event in a developing country, these people would jump in and engage in political manipulation in the name of human rights to destroy the festive atmosphere, and create obstacles for the local people. It is obvious that the so-called human rights issue is nothing but a deliberate and arbitrary accusation. It is just a tool for some forces to interfere in the internal affairs of developing countries and suppress their development and progress," he noted.He described the event as a great one in terms of the environment and technological advancement also, "This is a green World Cup. For the first time in the tournament, seawater desalination and solar photovoltaic power generation are being used on a large scale. Also for the first time, a fully demountable stadium has been introduced. Further, the Lusail Stadium project undertaken by a Chinese construction team has received five-star recognition from the FIFA green construction evaluation system, making it one of the most energy-efficient and environment-friendly stadium projects with the highest level of green construction."The envoy noted that the excellent relations and friendship between Qatar and China are rapidly growing in all fields and at all levels, including people-to-people relations. "I can say that the 1.4bn Chinese people are truly happy for Qatar to host the World Cup and sincerely wish the Qatar World Cup a complete success," he said.In the meantime, he conveyed the appreciation of China for "the positive achievements Qatar has made in protecting workers’ rights. Those who attempt to politically interfere in the Qatar World Cup will ultimately fail", he added.