China-Russia cooperation in the fight against the pandemic reflects the special nature of their relations

On April 16, President Xi Jinping held a telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin, in which he said that China and Russia are linked by mountains and rivers and the hearts of the two peoples are connected. It was the second telephone conversation between the two heads of state in a month, and the coordination and communication on China-Russia cooperation and exchanges in pandemic prevention and control fully demonstrates the high level of China-Russia relations. It is fair to say that since the outbreak of the pandemic, China and Russia have maintained close contact and cooperation and made due contributions to the world's fight against the pandemic.

China and Russia support each other politically and morally, which has set the direction and tone for the two countries in their joint fight against the pandemic. After the outbreak, President Putin was the first head of state of a major country to send a message of condolence to President Xi and he has spoken highly of China's decisive pandemic prevention and control measures on many occasions.

At the most critical moment of China's fight against the pandemic, Russia extended a helping hand to China, which was experiencing a shortage of medical supplies. On Feb 9, Russia delivered 23 tons of medical relief supplies to hard-hit Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. After successfully controlling the transmission of the novel coronavirus at home, China actively assisted Russia with its pandemic prevention needs. On April 2, the first batch of anti-pandemic materials provided by the Chinese government to Russia arrived in Moscow. The aid with a total weight of 25.5 tons, included medical masks, protective clothing and surgical gloves. On April 11, a group of humanitarian medical supplies donated by Heilongjiang province arrived in Moscow on the same plane with the Chinese government's medical team to fight against the pandemic in Russia. At the same time, Chinese-funded institutions and enterprises in Russia have also donated pandemic prevention materials to Russian departments, enterprises or and work units to help the two countries fight against the pandemic.

On Feb 5, relevant departments of China and Russia worked closely to complete the task of evacuating Russian nationals from Wuhan. Russian citizens in China, including those who voluntarily stayed in Wuhan, took an active part in the local fight against the pandemic. China took various measures to ensure their health and safety. Similarly, there are about 150,000 Chinese citizens in Russia. In line with the principle of special handling, the Russian side has solved the issue of visa overstay and residence for them, and provided necessary assistance for Chinese citizens to fight against the pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the competent authorities and diplomatic agencies of China and Russia established a direct communication mechanism for reporting the pandemic situation. The two sides sent each other updated information on the pandemic situation, diagnosis and treatment plans, investigation plans and prevention and control guidelines. State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology (VECTOR) in Russia and the Biological Science Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China have established direct contact and plan to cooperate in virus tracing, laboratory diagnosis and vaccine development. At the beginning of February, a delegation of Russian pandemic prevention experts came to China for field investigation and pandemic prevention guidance. On April 11, an anti-pandemic medical team from the Chinese government arrived in Moscow and visited relevant departments and major hospitals in Russia for more than a week to exchange views and share experience with their Russian counterparts on anti-pandemic prevention and control, clinical diagnosis and treatment.

After the outbreak, people from all walks of life in Russian society set off a wave of support for China. Russian officials, including First Vice-Chairman of the State Duma and Chairman of the Russia-China Friendship Association Ivan Melnikov, Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova and Director of the First Asian Department of Foreign Ministry Zinoviev Veniaminovich, sent video messages of support to cheer on China. Russian companies, academic institutions, colleges, primary and secondary schools, kindergartens and orphanages also sent messages of support to Wuhan via videos. The Russian artists sent paintings to the Chinese embassy in support of China's fight against the "pandemic". Rossiyskaya Gazeta and other mainstream media have also written articles and published comments giving thumbs-up to China, Trud has published the full text of President Xi's important speeches many times. Komsomolskaya Pravda produced touching videos to show the dedication of Chinese medical workers to fight against the pandemic.

The novel coronavirus outbreak has had an unprecedented impact on the economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia, and the practical cooperation between the two countries is facing a severe test. However, trade and economic exchanges between China and Russia, customs clearance of goods and freight trains between China and Europe have not been interrupted due to the pandemic. Trade between China and Russia reached $25.4 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 3.4 percent year-on-year, according to data released by China's General Administration of Customs. This is particularly valuable in the context of the global economic downturn and shows that the economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia has potential and resilience. It has not only withstood the pressure brought by the pandemic, but also injected new impetus to the expansion of bilateral practical cooperation in the future.

We are pleased to see that bilateral cooperation in the political, diplomatic, economic, trade, cultural and other fields has not been seriously affected by the pandemic, and is overcoming difficulties and making steady progress. China is ready to work with Russia to jointly overcome the pandemic, accelerate bilateral cooperation in various fields with closer exchanges and cooperation, so as to strive for higher level development and deliver tangible cooperation results for the two peoples.

The author is the Chinese ambassador to Russia. 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.