Standing together to fight against the pandemic

China and United Arab Emirates jointly combating the pandemic and seeking development together

Since the beginning of 2020, the novel coronavirus has raged across the world. During the period when the pandemic situation was the severest in China, the United Arab Emirates government and people stood firmly with China by providing political support and supplies, attesting to the iron-clad China-UAE friendship. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi of the UAE spoke over the phone with President Xi Jinping and posted tweets, expressing his willingness to provide all-out support for China. The UAE sent medical supplies to China quickly and generously and kept the air routes open. Its landmark buildings such as the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company headquarters lit up red three times to support Wuhan, the hardest-hit city in China during the pandemic, delivering positive signals to the international community that China and the UAE are in the same boat.

As an ancient Chinese poem goes, "You give a peach to me, I'll give you white jade for friendship." While China is making brave efforts to prevent and control the spread of the virus domestically, it has also sincerely and selflessly provided assistance for the UAE when it was hit by the pandemic. The two sides have carried out efficient cooperation on joint pandemic prevention and control as well as information sharing. Chinese medical experts have held videoconferences with their counterparts in the UAE many times making in-depth exchanges on diagnosis, treatment as well as prevention and control. Chinese biotech company BGI Group has helped the UAE to build China's largest overseas high-throughput testing center, allowing the latter to set the world's leading per capita testing rates. China has also made all-out efforts to meet the urgent demands of the UAE for pharmaceutical drugs, testing kits, protective supplies, equipment and raw materials as reciprocal support.

Solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons to overcome the pandemic. China and the UAE are partners fighting side by side on the international anti-pandemic front line. President Xi and Crown Prince Mohammed both attended the G20 Extraordinary Virtual Leaders' Summit on COVID-19 held in March. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan also talked twice by phone during the High-level Video Conference on Belt and Road International Cooperation held in June and the 9th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum via video link held in July.

China has provided a large amount of medical supplies to more than 150 countries and international organizations, and has sent medical teams to support many countries. The UAE has also provided humanitarian support of more than 1,000 tons of medical supplies to over 70 countries, benefiting more than 1 million medical staff. The two countries have launched the world's first phase III clinical trials of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, which sets an example for international cooperation on providing anti-pandemic public health products and bringing hope to the global battle against the virus.

The close anti-pandemic cooperation between China and the UAE derives from the long-lasting historical exchanges between both sides and has benefited from the high-level bilateral relations in the current era. Over 2,000 years ago, the ancient Silk Road already connected the two sides. Today, China-UAE exchanges are based on peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.

With the efforts of the two countries' leaders, China-UAE relations have entered a golden era. President Xi's state visit to the UAE in 2018 promoted the development of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. In 2019, Crown Prince Mohammed paid a state visit to China, further outlining the development of China-UAE relations. In the same year, the bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached $48.7 billion. While China continued to be the UAE's largest trading partner in 2019, the UAE has been China's second-largest trading partner and the largest export market in the Middle East for many years. The cooperation between the two sides in fields including energy, investment, science and education, culture and tourism has been booming. The two countries also held activities including the first China-UAE Economic and Trade Digital Expo and the China-UAE Culture Week via video link recently, creating good conditions for both sides to improve exchanges and cooperation after full resumption of work and production.

The year of 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE, which will host the Expo 2020 Dubai lasting into the next year. During the event, the Chinese Pavilion will showcase China's high-tech innovation achievements. The prospects for China-UAE cooperation are promising and worth greater efforts.

Facing the complicated and severe international pandemic situation, China and the UAE need to improve their cooperation and push ahead jointly more than ever. The two countries are supposed to promote international anti-pandemic battle and all-round cooperation in other fields steadily to drive the establishment of a community of shared future between China and the UAE to better benefit people of both sides.

The author is the Chinese ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. 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.