LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will not change China's sound momentum for 5G development, Meng Pu, chairman of Qualcomm China, has said.

"Qualcomm will further enhance technology cooperation with its Chinese partners in order to bring into full play the advantage of 5G technology in public health management such as curbing the spread of the virus," Meng said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Qualcomm will not change its confidence in the company's development in China, Meng said. "As a multinational company rooted in China, Qualcomm expects to boost stronger cooperation with Chinese companies in this difficult time, especially in new areas driven by the epidemic outbreak, such as mobile e-commerce, unmanned retail, virtual social interactions, online entertainment, online medical treatment, distance education, industrial robots and smart cities."

Although the epidemic will bring some short-term uncertainties to China's economic development, these new sectors will witness development and upgrade with the empowerment of 5G technology, Meng said.

China's development and improvement in its economic volume and its risk-resisting capabilities will enable the country to better adjust its economic development and governance, he added.

Given that the virus outbreak will bring difficulties to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Qualcomm will continue to invest and support innovative Chinese SMEs through its venture capital funds, especially those start-ups in the field of 5G applications and empowerment, Meng said.

Qualcomm, a leading global company in the next-generation wireless technologies headquartered in San Diego, California, has been cultivated in China for over 20 years since it entered the Chinese market in the 1990s.

Meng said that 5G, as a new generation of mobile communication technology, is an important communication guarantee in the areas of emergency command, transportation and hospital management in responding to major epidemics.

Moreover, 5G's high-bandwidth, low-latency and large-capacity features make it very helpful in public health management such as remote command, remote medical treatment, big data management, epidemic prevention robots and infrared thermometers, Meng said.

"China's epidemic prevention network and hospital medical informatization will be improved through its fight against the coronavirus outbreak, and 5G will play a very important enabling role in the process," he said.

Meng expressed full confidence in China's efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, saying that Qualcomm will beef up cooperation with its Chinese partners and make its own contributions to the battle.