Solidarity sows a bright future

LI MIN/CHINA DAILY

China-Nepal friendship has been tested by difficult times before and each time it has emerged stronger, as it will after the pandemic

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Nepal. The two countries are geographically connected through the towering Himalayas with everlasting friendship.

Over the past 65 years, China and Nepal have forged ahead with ever-growing political mutual trust, fruitful achievements under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and increasingly enhanced people-to-people exchanges. The two sides have been supporting each other on issues involving their respective core interests, becoming models of cooperation based on equality and friendship for mutual benefits between countries.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Nepal on Oct 12 and 13 last year, the two countries agreed to "a strategic partnership of cooperation featuring everlasting friendship for development and prosperity". Since that historic visit, relations between the two countries have entered a new era and embraced new opportunities for development.

Looking back on the history of China-Nepal relations, the two sides have continually strengthened their political mutual trust and friendship. The Nepalese government and people made donations proactively to support China when Wenchuan in Southwest China's Sichuan province was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2008. After the earthquake in Nepal in 2015, the Chinese government and people also implemented large-scale rescue operations in the shortest possible time. The life of the Nepalese people became even harder due to the blockade of the main border crossings between Nepal and India shortly after the earthquake, for which China sent supplies including much-needed oil and gas to Nepal despite the difficult conditions and frequent secondary disasters and supported the latter in reconstruction.

Just as fire can test how genuine gold is, the genuineness of the friendship between China and Nepal has been proved by such testing times.

After the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, China and Nepal have worked together to form a China-Nepal community with a shared future in the anti-pandemic battle. During the period when the pandemic situation was the severest in China, Nepalese leaders including President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli sent letters to their Chinese counterparts expressing their firm support for China's anti-pandemic measures. Civil organizations and students in Nepal also sent videos, poems and paintings created by them to express their confidence in China winning its battle against the virus.

Although most of Nepal's anti-pandemic supplies are imported, as the country's production capacity is limited, the Nepalese government still donated 100,000 medical masks to China in the initial period of the pandemic outbreak.

While the pandemic has now been effectively controlled in China, the situation in Nepal has become increasingly severe with rising confirmed cases and a great insufficiency of anti-pandemic supplies. Nepal also lacks medical treatment capabilities and experience to fight against COVID-19.

As an ancient Chinese poem goes, "Fear not the want of armor, for mine is also yours to wear". On April 27, President Xi stressed in a phone conversation with President Bhandari that China has been following the pandemic situation in Nepal and will continue to provide firm support for Nepal in its fight against the pandemic.

Amid the great pressure of preventing domestic reemergence and curbing imported cases as well as the shortage of medical resources, China has proactively implemented the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries as various groups have provided assistance to Nepal through multiple channels and approaches. The Chinese government and the Chinese People's Liberation Army assisted Nepal with several batches of the most urgently needed anti-pandemic supplies including test kits, masks, protective suits and forehead thermometers, which have played an important role in supporting anti-pandemic efforts on the frontline in Nepal.

Domestic regions including Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and Tibet autonomous region, as well as social welfare organizations, Chinese-funded enterprises in Nepal and overseas Chinese have also provided support as their capacities allow. The Chinese embassy in Nepal has assisted in holding four China-Nepal videoconferences for exchanges between health experts of the two countries on combating the pandemic. The experts had full and in-depth conversations on experience and practices in pandemic prevention and control as well as clinical treatment.

China has also coordinated domestic and international resources to facilitate Nepal on purchasing medical supplies in China. With measures for pandemic prevention and control in place, China has resumed the freight transport at the China-Nepal border port to ensure anti-pandemic and daily supplies for Nepal.

The year is the starting year for the launch of the proposals President Xi made during his state visit to Nepal. The two countries have implemented the key consensus reached by leaders of both sides and connected the Belt and Road Initiative with Nepal's policy of developing itself from a land-locked country to a land-linked country. China-Nepal cooperation in promoting interconnectivity and infrastructure has seen fruitful achievements and made substantial progress. The Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network is gradually taking shape and the construction of a community of shared future between China and Nepal in the new era has seen new progress.

Although the sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus has inevitably affected China-Nepal exchanges and cooperation in various fields, it will not exert fundamental impacts on long-term cooperation between China and Nepal. The solidarity demonstrated by the two countries in their anti-pandemic efforts will inject new impetus into the development of China-Nepal relations. While ensuring pandemic prevention and control, China is willing to work with Nepal to steadily promote the resumption of production in the latter, improve connectivity, and boost bilateral economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. China will create a new landscape in the changing situation and turn impacts of the pandemic into opportunities for development by exploring new avenues for the growth of China-Nepal cooperation in public health and online communication and shopping to benefit the people of both countries.

The pandemic will end while China-Nepal friendship will last. Both sides will be able to jointly push the strategic partnership of cooperation featuring everlasting friendship for development and prosperity to a new height. 

The author is the Chinese ambassador to Nepal. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily or yunnangateway.