'China and Arab states must work together now more than ever'

AMMAN — China is looking forward to cooperating with Jordan to deepen the China-Arab strategic partnership and "build a community with a shared future", Chinese Ambassador to Jordan Pan Weifang said on Sunday.

Highlighting the Kingdom's anti-COVID-19 efforts, the envoy said that the Jordanian experience "deserves to be shared", noting that the Kingdom has demonstrated the "best control" over the pandemic in the Arab World.

The ambassador's remarks prefaced the 9th session of the Ministerial Meeting of the Arab-China States Cooperation Forum, scheduled to be held virtually on Monday under joint Jordanian-Chinese presidency, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Highlighting Arab countries' solidarity with China to confront the virus, Weifang stressed that the Arab world and China are "closely linked by their destinies".

China has provided medical supplies to Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Qatar and 20 Arab countries, in addition to donating a total of 8.4 million masks, 1.1 million test kits and around 300,000 pieces of protective clothing to Arab countries, he added.

On the Palestinian cause, the envoy said that his country "has always supported Palestinians", underlining China's assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and refugee-hosting countries.

He noted that during this new situation, China and Arab states “need to work together more than ever to tackle challenges”, Petra said.

Also on Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a statement made available to Petra, said that Arab-Chinese cooperation against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed in advancing the two sides' strategic partnership, pointing out that Arab-China cooperation over the past two years has "brought prosperity" in various fields, notably in the consolidation of mutual political trust and the harmonisation of development strategies.

Jordan and China will chair the 9th session of the Ministerial Meeting of the Arab-China States Cooperation Forum via videoconference due to the coronavirus pandemic. The meetings are held on the ministerial level every two years.

The forum was established in 2004 during a visit of the former Chinese president to the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. The forum was established on four principles, namely furthering cooperation in the political, economic and cultural fields and in international affairs.