Chinese, Dutch leaders exchange congratulations on birth of panda cub

BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, recently exchanged congratulatory messages with Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima on the birth of a giant panda cub in the European country.

Xi and Peng said in their letter that the new cub, born in May by giant panda Wu Wen in a Dutch Zoo, is a cause for celebration.

The cub, they said, is a beautiful fruit of China-Dutch friendship and an important achievement in bilateral cooperation in biodiversity conservation.

Meanwhile, they noted that since the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, the governments and people of the two countries have given each other a helping hand and written a beautiful tale of friendship that features them sticking together through thick and thin and helping each other.

China, they added, attaches great importance to the development of bilateral relations, and stands ready to work with the Netherlands to turn challenges into opportunities, promote epidemic control and bilateral exchanges in a coordinated way, and lift bilateral ties to new levels.

The Dutch royal couple, for their part, said they were greatly delighted and heartened by the birth of the cub.

The new life, they added, is not only a symbol of the fruitful relationship between the two countries, but also a contribution to the protection of global biodiversity.

The Dutch side pays high attention to bilateral cooperation against COVID-19, they said, adding that only with solidarity and cooperation can countries around the world prevail over the global crisis.

Noting that Netherlands-China relations enjoy a solid foundation, they said the Dutch side is willing to continue to work with China to cope with the impact of the pandemic and bring bilateral exchanges back to normal as soon as possible.