The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has not impeded but intensified the diplomatic efforts made by Chinese President Xi Jinping to achieve a shared bright future for mankind.
In recent phone calls with foreign leaders, the Chinese president has called for strengthened global cooperation to prevail over the coronavirus and share opportunities for development amid the pandemic-induced recession.
Boost cooperation against pandemic
As the pandemic is continuing to wreak havoc across the world, Xi, in his talks with foreign leaders, has repeatedly stressed the need to strengthen cooperation against the virus.
In a phone conversation held Thursday with his Bolivian counterpart, Luis Arce, Xi said China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Bolivia on COVID-19 vaccines.
Recalling that China has provided Bolivia with material and technical assistance to fight the epidemic through various channels, the Chinese president said his country will continue supporting Bolivia in the anti-epidemic fight within its capacity.
After the phone conversation, the Bolivian president tweeted his appreciation for China's support for the Latin American country's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying "We appreciate your cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and in the development of strategic projects for Bolivia."
Since 2020, the pandemic and transformations rarely seen in a century have become interwoven with one another, and the international and regional situation has undergone profound changes, Xi noted in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in on Tuesday.
China and South Korea, Xi said, have especially put forward effective institutional arrangements and set an example of cooperation in fighting the pandemic, which fully demonstrates the high level of the China-South Korea strategic cooperative partnership.
The Chinese leader called on the two sides to continue to make good use of the cooperation mechanism of joint prevention and control as well as "fast lanes," so as to facilitate the epidemic prevention and control and economic development of the two countries, and to help boost regional and global anti-pandemic cooperation.
In a phone conversation with Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Xi said that China will continue supporting developing countries in their fights against COVID-19 and contribute to making vaccines public goods that are accessible and affordable to all.
Share development opportunities
Sharing opportunities for development and recovery, an urgent issue for mankind grappling with a deep recession, is another frequently mentioned topic in Xi's phone conversations with world leaders.
On Tuesday, Xi called on China and Belarus to boost high-quality development of bilateral Belt and Road cooperation.
In his telephone conversation with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Xi also urged the two sides to make solid progress in the construction of China-Belarus industrial park.
Noting that this year is the first year for China to implement the 14th Five-Year Plan, Xi said China's efforts to foster a new development pattern and promote reform and opening up at a higher starting point will provide more development opportunities and open up broader cooperation space for countries worldwide, including Belarus.
In the talk with Moon, Xi said he hopes that the two sides can earnestly implement the consensus reached on speeding up the alignment of development strategies of the two countries and deepening bilateral cooperation in key areas, so as to continuously expand mutually beneficial cooperation and promote high-quality integrated cooperation.
He said that the two sides should accelerate the completion of the second-phrase negotiations on the free trade agreement between the two countries, so as to put into effect the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership at an early date and speed up the construction of the China-Japan-South Korea free trade area.
On Jan. 21, in a telephone conversation with Thongloun Sisoulith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee, Xi urged the two sides to steadily advance the construction of such large projects as the China-Laos Economic Corridor and the China-Laos Railway, and push for more achievements in bilateral Belt and Road cooperation.
China is willing to work with Laos to strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, and promote common development and prosperity, added the Chinese leader.
