BEIJING — A white paper on China's battle against COVID-19 has recorded how the country has worked to defeat the epidemic and helped other countries, providing solid evidence that China's painstaking yet effective efforts can never be downplayed.

A white paper is a regular means of elaborating and interpreting China's official stance on key issues concerning the country's core interests and issues with global implications. For an event like the COVID-19 epidemic, it is a realistic way to let the world know exactly what happened.

The document of 37,000 Chinese characters illustrates how China coped with this "unknown, unexpected and devastating" disease, and how it succeeded in cutting all channels for the transmission of the virus.

The white paper also records how China joined hands with other countries to show why cooperation and solidarity are the most powerful weapons against the disease.

It is known to all that the United States has the most COVID-19 infections and deaths in the world. But ironically, some US politicians have been shifting blame and shirking responsibility for their own inaction and incompetence in coping with the disease. They have been fabricating rumors and making groundless accusations against China. But these rumors have even been refuted by scientists and medical experts from the United States.

The novel coronavirus is a brand-new virus. When it struck suddenly, no one knew what it was, how it was transmitted or how to stop it, thus making its prevention and control particularly difficult in the beginning.

China has made the fight against the virus a top priority, putting people's lives and health first. A series of prevention, control and treatment measures were taken decisively.

As a result, in little more than a month, China contained the rising spread of the virus; in around two months, the daily increase in domestic coronavirus cases had fallen to single digits; and in about three months, a decisive victory was secured in the battle to defend Hubei province and its capital city of Wuhan, laying a solid foundation for the strategic achievements nationwide.