Nepal has given us valuable support in many ways, which fully demonstrated the spirit of a community of shared destiny
In the age of globalization, humankind is living in the same global village. The future of everyone around the world is closely intertwined. We have increasingly emerged as a community with common destiny in which everyone has a little bit of others. Confronted by the sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), thanks to the Chinese people’s untiring efforts, the situation in China is increasingly trending in the positive direction. But unfortunately the virus is rapidly spreading across the world, and it is now a pandemic. We are once again reminded that non-traditional security threats like infectious diseases, climate change, and financial crises have no international borders, and no country can stay immune. Just as President Xi Jinping put it, “mankind is a community with a shared future. To prevail over a disease that threatens all, unity and cooperation is the most powerful weapon”.
Adopting the most comprehensive and rigorous prevention and control measures, the Chinese government has attached a great importance to international cooperation to prevent the epidemic. President Xi Jinping issued important instructions on many occasions in strengthening communication and coordination with different countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) provided us direction on ways to handle international cooperation in response to COVID-19. We hosted WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO-China expert team’s visit to China, gave a thorough and in-depth account of China’s epidemic situation, prevention and control measures, medical treatment, as well as progress of scientific and technological research into the virus.
We shared full genome sequence, primers and probes of the virus with the international community at the earliest possible date. We also shared many technical documents, including our epidemic prevention and control measures, as well as diagnosis and treatment plans, with more than 100 countries around the world and over 10 international and regional organizations.
During the Chinese people’s battle against COVID-19, the international communities, including Nepal, have given us much valuable support in different ways, which fully demonstrated the spirit of a community of shared destiny, featuring sharing together danger and safety.
To quote a line from the Book of Songs, “You throw a peach at me; I give you a white jade for friendship”. Facing the new situation of the global spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, we tried our best to give back to the international community. China has donated 20 million US dollar to WHO to help developing countries improve their capabilities to respond to the epidemic. We provided test kits, masks, medicines, protective suits and other supplies to Pakistan, Japan, Republic of Korean, Iran, the Africa Union and other countries.
The Red Cross Society of China sent a team of volunteer experts to Iran, Iraq and Italy. The Chinese medical specialists are conducting remote video conferences with colleagues from Italy, Pacific island countries and many other countries to introduce China’s experience in prevention and treatment of the epidemic. We made guidelines dedicated to the prevention and control of the epidemic for tourists and provided them to countries around the world including Nepal, to jointly stem the cross-border spread of the epidemic.
A single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong. To triumph over the epidemic, we should uphold the spirit of a community with a shared future for mankind and adhere to the spirit of solidarity and mutual assistance. We need win-win cooperation instead of confrontation and selfish interests. All the countries should strengthen communication and coordination under the framework of the WHO and carry out joint prevention and control measures in order to work together to fight against the epidemic. The countries are different in their stages of development and capabilities and therefore carry different responsibilities.
Developed countries should make full use of their advantages in financing and researching resources to provide support and assistance to developing countries. Developing countries should increasingly raise public awareness on prevention and improve their public health systems. As a responsible member of the international community, China will continue to promote international cooperation and provide support to the countries in need to the best of our abilities while working on the prevention and control of the epidemic within China, and collaborate with other countries in medicines, vaccines and testing reagents.
I believe that as long as we stay in solidarity, we will win this fight, and a beautiful spring will come soon.
The author is Chinese ambassador to Nepal