China and Romania have supported each other in their joint fight against the novel coronavirus

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Chinese government has implemented comprehensive and thorough prevention and control measures, and the whole nation has been united in heart, thus achieving an important initial victory in the fight against the pandemic. This achievement demonstrates China's institutional advantages in concentrating its efforts to accomplish major tasks and the strong resilience of the Chinese people.

After the outbreak of the coronavirus, China's embassies and consulates have constantly maintained communication with the governments, media and enterprises in their host countries to introduce the Chinese government's pandemic prevention and control work, and promoted coordination and cooperation against the pandemic, releasing timely information on pandemic prevention measures, and helping Chinese citizens solve their problems.

During the most difficult period of China's fight against the pandemic, friendly people from other countries, including Romania, cheered for the Chinese people and provided material support. The Romanian president, prime minister and foreign minister sent letters of condolence and support to their Chinese counterparts. The Romanian city of Tulcea provided a batch of medical supplies to Suzhou, its Chinese sister city in Jiangsu province.

What impressed me most was that the Romanian Children Choir ALLEGRETTO performed Chinese songs in March to express their confidence and hope for the future. They sang the Chinese national anthem with perfect pronunciation of Chinese characters, which was very inspiring, while their soulful singing of Tomorrow Will Be Better and Singing and Smiling touched us deeply. The beautiful melodies and inspiring words conveyed the children's kindness toward the Chinese people. These videos have been viewed more than 30 million times on Chinese social networking sites, bringing comfort to millions of Chinese children. Once again, I thank the friendly people of Romania for their support and help.

At present, the novel coronavirus is rapidly spreading in Europe, and the Romanian people are also struggling with the virus. With the development of the pandemic, the Romanian government has taken a series of effective control measures and achieved positive results. We appreciate the efforts made by the Romanian government and people from all walks of life in fighting against the pandemic and are confident that the Romanian people will achieve final victory in the fight against the pandemic.

At a time when people in other countries are at war with the virus, China, which has just emerged from the pandemic, is demonstrating its goodwill to other countries. China's leaders have expressed sincere condolences to the affected countries, and China has extended a helping hand, providing materials, medical technology and personnel to aid more than 100 countries in their efforts to tame the pandemic.

Under the coordination of the embassy, Chinese-funded enterprises and overseas Chinese in Romania have taken the lead in raising pandemic prevention materials to donate to the municipal government and medical institutions of the Romanian capital Bucharest. A number of local governments in China, including those of Gansu, Heilongjiang and Shandong provinces and Jinhua city in Zhejiang province, have donated medical supplies to their Romanian sister provinces and cities.

We have also provided maximum support for Romania's purchase of anti-pandemic medical supplies from China, made every effort to arrange supplies, and provided transportation facilities for urgent matters, to ensure the steady flow of supplies from China to Romania. To share anti-pandemic information, exchange prevention and control experience with Romania and win the battle of pandemic prevention and control together, China has organized four bilateral and multilateral videoconferences of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control experts, with more than 100 experts from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Internal Affairs, nearly 20 local governments and more than 30 hospitals and research centers participating.

In our common response to the challenges and difficulties, we have seen the good side of human nature. Although there are some discordant notes from time to time, the light of goodness will always illuminate the dark. Both the Chinese and Romanian people are kind-hearted people that will not hesitate to lend a helping hand to their friends when they are in need. The traditional friendship between China and Romania has once again been demonstrated in this war against the pandemic.

Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that the outbreak of COVID-19 once shows that humankind is a community with a shared future, and the international community must help each other to jointly tackle the risks and challenges and ensure a better world for all. We are ready to join hands with our Romanian friends to support each other through thick and thin and jointly win the final victory in the fight against the pandemic.

The author is the Chinese ambassador to Romania. 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.