By XIE FUZHAN
China and Russia, which are geographically connected, have developed good neighborly ties and become all-round strategic partners. The two countries have extended strong support to each other since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Major infectious diseases are the enemy of all. The sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus has shown the lives and health of peoples of all countries are more closely connected than ever before. Since all humans live in the same global village as a community with a shared future, all countries are in the same boat facing the challenges posed by the virus. Solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons against the pandemic.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has had several telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on strengthening cooperation and coordination in pandemic prevention and control, which has demonstrated the high-level strategic communication and cooperation between the two countries.
Russia provided sincere assistance and support for China during the most difficult stage of China’s struggle against the virus. Amid the global spread of the virus, China has also assisted Russia with medical supplies as its capacity allows, and facilitated the latter’s procurement of urgently needed supplies in the Chinese market. China and Russia have supported and defended each other against unreasonable claims by certain countries, forging an impregnable fortress against the “political virus” that has infected some countries.
The China-Russia anti-pandemic campaign has injected fresh impetus into efforts to advance the high-level development of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries. While Russia is making all-out efforts to prevent and control the spread of the virus, China is facing the pressure of a reemergence of the virus.
Both sides are exchanging their experiences, carrying out pandemic information sharing as well as cooperating on vaccine research and development and taking the opportunity of anti-pandemic cooperation to build a China-Russia community of health and promote their comprehensive strategic partnership.
Since President Xi first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, it has been steadily advanced with notable progress and entered a new phase of high-quality development. And despite the impact of the pandemic, the initiative has still shown strong growth momentum as China’s trade with countries and regions along the Belt and Road routes and its investment in them continue to grow rapidly.
According to China’s General Administration of Customs, China’s trade with countries participating in the initiative totaled 3.49 trillion yuan ($493.7 billion) from January to May, up 9 percent year-on-year, 4.9 percentage points higher than China’s overall trade growth. Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that the non-financial direct investment of Chinese enterprises in 54 countries involved in the initiative reached $6.53 billion over the same period, up 16 percent year-on-year.
In light of this, the initiative has provided strong driving forces for international cooperation which are producing broad prospects for development.
As an important partner in the construction of the initiative, the Eurasian Economic Union with its five member states Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia has set a model example for the international community on jointly developing the initiative with China. Since Xi and Putin signed the Joint Statement on Cooperation on the Construction of Joint Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road Projects in 2015, the cooperation based on the alignment of the initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union has been steadily furthered with China-Russia cooperation making fruitful achievements in key areas such as trade, energy, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, the digital economy and financial cooperation, laying a solid foundation for developing a high-level economic partnership in Eurasia.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
