Iron-clad friendship shows its strength

Solidarity in anti-pandemic battle injects new impetus into China-Senegal relations

In the face of the threat from the novel coronavirus, which has spread around the world, China has been adhering to a people-oriented philosophy and focusing on building a community with a shared future for mankind, working with other countries against the pandemic and providing mutual assistance. The anti-pandemic efforts of China and Senegal are a typical example of this.

Senegal is a comprehensive strategic partner of China and the co-chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). In recent years, China-Senegal political mutual trust has continued to increase and the win-win cooperation between the two countries has benefited both peoples. Exchanges at all levels in various fields have enhanced mutual understanding, closely connecting the two countries that are far away in distance.

When China engaged in a tough battle against the virus earlier this year, Senegal firmly supported China's prevention and control efforts. Senegalese President Macky Sall sent a letter of sympathy to Chinese President Xi Jinping, lauding China's effective and strong pandemic prevention and control measures and expressing his belief that the Chinese people would soon triumph over the virus. Senegalese Foreign Minister Amadou Ba also spoke with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the phone twice, delivering greetings and expressing support for China. The Senegalese people also expressed their concern for the Chinese people in various ways, including providing donations and masks for people in Wuhan, the hardest-hit city in Hubei province in Central China, through the Chinese embassy in Senegal, sending letters and emails and making phone calls.

During the lockdown of Wuhan, none of the 13 Senegalese students studying in the city returned to Senegal. With the care of staff and volunteers of local communities and colleges, the Senegalese students have emerged from this difficult time in good spirits.

After the first confirmed case was reported in Senegal on March 2, the Chinese government and people swiftly responded by sending urgently needed protective supplies including masks, protective suits and test kits to Dakar, capital of Senegal. Chinese enterprises and medical assistance team sent to Senegal have transformed the newly built Maternity and Children's Hospital in Dakar into a designated hospital for COVID-19 treatment with 100 beds at the fastest speed, with Chinese bedding factories making investment in Senegal donating 200 sets of the products. Batches of supplies donated by the Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation arrived in Senegal, Chinese-funded enterprises in Senegal and overseas Chinese also made donations proactively.

Chinese medical experts have shared their experience in pandemic prevention and control as well as diagnosis and treatment with their counterparts in Senegal through videoconferences.

Up to now, China's central and local governments, enterprises as well as Chinese-funded enterprises in Senegal and overseas Chinese have donated more than 1 million masks, 40,000 test kits, more than 20,000 protective suits, 10 ventilators and over 100,000 sets of goggles, protective masks, forehead thermometers and medical gloves to Senegal. Chinese-funded enterprises and overseas Chinese in Senegal also donated 280 million FCFA($468,000) to the Solidarity Response Fund established by the Senegalese government.

Senegalese President Sall and Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr spoke highly of China's strong support for the anti-pandemic work in Senegal and thanked China for carrying out international assistance while performing well in its domestic pandemic prevention and control work. The assistance of the Chinese government and enterprises fully shows the profound friendship between China and Senegal and will provide strong driving forces and bring more hope for the Senegalese government and people to overcome the pandemic.

While the virus knows no borders, it has not affected the exchanges between China and Senegal and people of both sides with close ties. The two sides have conducted fruitful cooperation on combating the pandemic, with some institutionalized exchanges continuing and bilateral cooperation projects advancing steadily. China and Senegal have taken the opportunity of anti-pandemic cooperation to enhance collaboration on furthering their trade, interconnectivity and the digital economy to improve people's health and well-being and promote the resumption of work and production, and seize the opportunities of cooperation on new business modes such as the digital economy, smart cities, clean energy and 5G, supporting Senegal to achieve sustainable development and injecting new impetus into bilateral relations.

With the joint proposals of President Xi, President Sall and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, who has assumed the rotating presidency of the African Union, the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19 was held online on June 17. President Xi presided over the event and delivered a keynote speech entitled Defeating COVID-19 with Solidarity and Cooperation, outlining China's policy proposals and measures to promote anti-pandemic and practical cooperation between China and Africa under the current situation and delivering strong signals of solidarity and cooperation to the international community. The proposals at the summit were warmly welcomed in Senegal. President Sall sent two tweets in succession praising the summit, saying that it would give a boost to the launch of the healthcare initiative under the framework of the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan (2019-21).Senegal will make all-out efforts to work with China and build a China-Africa health community with a shared future to benefit both Chinese and African people.

Solidarity in the anti-pandemic battle has once again attested to the long-lasting and iron-clad China-Africa relations. After weathering the tests of the pandemic, the friendship between China and Senegal will be deeper and firmer. Solidarity and mutual assistance will further lead both sides to win the battle against the pandemic.

The author is the Chinese ambassador to Senegal. 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.