Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Pakistani President Arif Alvi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 17, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)
As more countries have come together to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, a common enemy of mankind, Pakistani President Arif Alvi has visited China for the first time since he assumed office in 2018, showing the determination of the two all-weather friends to forge a closer community with a shared future.
While Pakistani volunteers stayed in China to fight the novel coronavirus, a team of Chinese experts traveled to Pakistan to tackle a locust crisis. As Chinese President Xi Jinping told Alvi on Tuesday in Beijing, "Facts have proved once again that China and Pakistan are true friends who share weal and woe and good brothers who share each other's joys and sorrows."
FIRM SUPPORT
As Xi recalled, at the beginning of the epidemic, Alvi wrote him a letter to convey consolation, and Alvi's latest trip marks his firm support. The Pakistani side also offered everything within their capabilities to provide China with anti-epidemic materials.
In addition to the governmental support, during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many Pakistanis have remained in China to help their "second hometown."
"I knew in my heart that I had to stay here with my Chinese brothers and sisters, because throughout my life in China, I have received a lot of love from the Chinese, and it was the first chance in my life to make a little contribution to China," said Abdul Zahir Hamad, a Pakistani who studied medicine in China and later became a professional doctor.
After the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Hamad had a chance to return to Pakistan. However, he chose to stay with his Chinese colleagues and volunteered to help at a highway exit checkpoint in Wenzhou, a city in China's eastern Zhejiang Province, taking temperatures of drivers and passengers.
"I grew up here, I completed my education and started my career here, and after spending more than a decade in China I feel it's my second home. It took care of me like a mother does," Hamad told Xinhua in a recent interview.
The young Pakistani doctor's affection for China can be traced back to his father. "Friendship with China is incarnated in the soul of every Pakistani, even when our children are young, we tell them that China is our best friend," Hamad's father told Xinhua.
"He made the right choice to stay and serve our dear friends who always stood up for our country and supported us whenever we needed them," the father said, despite his fears over the virus.
