China walks the talk in pursuit of multilateralism - opinion

Aerial photo taken on January 14, 2021 shows the container terminal of Qinzhou Port in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

At a time when the deadly coronavirus is still raging in many parts of the world and humanity is encountering a raft of global challenges and crises rarely seen in history, no one can survive without joining forces and working together with others.

In his special address at the World Economic Forum virtual event of the Davos Agenda, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for global action, global response and global cooperation to fix the world's problems.

Xi's remarks on Monday resonate with all those across the world committed to upholding multilateralism and jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Thus, an efficient way to jointly ride out the critical moment is to uphold multilateralism, in which all countries need to assume their due responsibilities and take concrete actions, instead of only making empty promises.

China has walked the talk and devoted itself to the global fight against the once-in-a-century pandemic. Under immense pressure of epidemic prevention and control at home, it has offered urgently-needed supplies to others within its capacity.

Members of a Chinese medical team assisting the Myanmar government's efforts in fight against COVID-19 board the plane before departure at the Kunming Changshui International Airport in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 8, 2020. (Photo by Chen Xinbo/Xinhua)

Actions speak louder than words. So far, China has provided assistance to over 150 countries and 13 international organizations, and sent 36 medical expert teams to countries in need. It has also been actively engaged in global cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines and working hard to promote these life-saving tools to be more accessible and affordable.

"It is especially important to scale up cooperation on the R&D, production and distribution of vaccines and make them public goods that are truly accessible and affordable to people in all countries," Xi said.

Besides its efforts and actions in the anti-COVID-19 fight, China has made remarkable contributions to global causes aimed at alleviating poverty, tackling climate change and resuscitating the global economy.

Because of the coronavirus and resulting economic recession, an additional population of about 100 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty, while the gap between rich and poor countries is very likely to grow.

China, the first country to bring the coronavirus outbreak under control, has made historic achievements in eradicating absolute poverty despite the impact of the pandemic, contributing to over 70 percent of the global drive in this field. China has also continuously advanced South-South cooperation and made tangible contributions to poverty eradication and debt relief in the developing world.

Women work at a poverty relief workshop of a relocation site in Fugong County of Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Nujiang, southwest China's Yunnan Province, November 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)

Meanwhile, China has taken concrete actions to promote sustainable development, and stepped up its efforts in building a cleaner and better world. Notably, the country has announced its goal of striving to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

Though meeting these targets will require tremendous hard work from China, the country, as Xi said, will "step forward, take action, and get the job done" when the interests of the entire world's population are at stake.

Also, China has never stopped working to bolster economic globalization, by following through on its fundamental policy of opening-up, which has created more cooperation opportunities for other countries and accelerated global recovery and growth.

Photo taken on January 7, 2020 shows China-produced sedans at Tesla's gigafactory in Shanghai, east China. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

For instance, despite the recession, China's foreign trade with countries along the Belt and Road totaled 9.37 trillion yuan (about 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars), up 1 percent year on year, official data showed.

Charles Onunaiju, director of the Abuja-based Center for China Studies, said with the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, China has in recent years become an increasingly open, inclusive and confident player on the global stage.

In this globalized era, stronger multilateralism is the way forward to tackle tough global challenges. In this context, China, in both words and deeds, has boosted confidence in upholding multilateralism and injected impetus into a joint response to global crises.

In the future, China will continue to join forces with the international community to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.