Prof. Andrey Chorbanov: Good relations between Bulgaria and China at the parliamentary level can only be beneficial for both countries – 2024-08-29 08:47:13

/ world today news/ Prof. Andrey Chorbanov is the deputy chairman of the 49th National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria from the party “There is such a people”. He is one of the most famous Bulgarian immunologists, head of the Department of Immunology at the Institute of Microbiology at the BAS. He is a member of the Health Care Commission of the National Assembly.

Especially for KMG, Prof. Chorbanov was kind enough to answer several questions related to the cultural events presented in Bulgaria on the occasion of “Summer with Chinese Culture”, as well as to express his opinion on the prevention and fight against the COVID-19 pandemic on a global scale , and also about the state and prospects of Bulgarian-Chinese relations.

Question: Prof. Chorbanov, you participated in some of the events organized by the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria under the motto “Summer with Chinese Culture” – and in particular, you witnessed the initiatives related to the Dragon Boat Festival. Tell us, please, what is your impression and how such events help to acquaint the Bulgarian public with Chinese culture and art?

Prof. Chorbanov: China is a country with a thousand-year-old culture, with a diversity of traditions in different regions. I myself have been to China and witnessed various traditional events, so I think it is interesting for people all over Europe, not only in Bulgaria, to have more contacts with Chinese culture, because such contacts with the traditions of China give an opportunity to a much greater extent to understand the mentality of this country and the people who live there.

More and more people need to know that China has traditions that really date back thousands of years and that have gone through many “upheavals” to survive to this day, and it is good to introduce these traditions to more people.

Question: As Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, please comment on how you see the development of Bulgarian-Chinese relations at the moment and what do you think are their prospects?

Prof. Chorbanov: Indeed, in purely political terms the relations between the two countries are not very active at the moment, but in economic terms, they are quite active. An extremely large number of companies in Bulgaria work with their Chinese colleagues, an extremely large number of goods are imported into Bulgaria from China and are sought after by the people. So – at the economic level, the connections are much more active and working. One only has to look around to see how many Chinese goods are present on our market – both as components for industry and as goods directly for consumers. I will give an example of the pharmaceutical industry in our country – it works with many Chinese-made devices and machines. While purely political, it seems that Europe is still looking for a way to contact China. I don’t want to go into detail about how the US-China standoff makes it so that many European countries do not know exactly to what extent to be active in their political relations with China, and to what extent this can be beneficial. In my opinion, the confrontation should be kept to a minimum and be subject to purely economic relations rather than escalated in any form.

That is why good relations – including at the parliamentary level – can only be beneficial!

Question: As a renowned immunologist professor, please tell us how, in your opinion, China, Bulgaria, and the world as a whole, have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic?

Prof. Chorbanov: I would be a little critical here – I think that no country in the world managed to deal well enough with the pandemic, and especially with its prevention. Bulgaria, where we had one of the most liberal regimes in terms of restrictions and mandatory vaccination, went through the pandemic at the same time as countries where a complete “lockdown” was introduced and 100% vaccination of the population went through!

So – what we have to learn as a lesson – and China, and the US, and us, and many other countries – is that the future will present us with new and new challenges, such as unknown viruses and pandemics that we will have to cope and therefore we must learn how to respond adequately!

It is important for me to comment on this, because as a professional in this field, I look at things not so much politically, but from a purely professional level.