On February 17th, 2021, the Kaselehlie Press, the renowned newspaper in the FSM, published, in its Vol. 21 and Iss. 04, a congratulatory message by H.E. Huang Zheng, Chinese Ambassador to the FSM, on the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Ox 2021. Below is its full text:
February 12th, 2021, is the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day, also known as the Spring Festival, which is the most important and grand traditional festival of the Chinese people. On this occasion with pleasant implications of going home, happiness, auspiciousness, hope, harmony, love and warmth, on behalf of the staff of the Chinese Embassy in the FSM, I wish our FSM friends in all walks of life and the Chinese compatriots in the FSM being healthy, happy, and prosperous in the New Year.
In the era of globalization today, the Spring Festival has already become a festival for people all over the world to share and celebrate together. Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevents me from inviting local friends to gather together for a feast of the Chinese cuisine and culture gala on New Year’s Eve, it can not keep us from looking back at and prospecting our cause of promoting friendship, cooperation and development.
In the past year, faced with the sudden COVID-19 pandemic, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Government adhere to the notion of putting people and their lives first and took unprecedented epidemic control and prevention measures with resolve and decisiveness. With the people all over China united as one, we secured major strategic victories in our fight against the pandemic. We have actively engaged in cooperation and exchanges with the international community against the pandemic in an open, transparent, and responsible manner and shared at the earliest time possible the knowledge about the virus and the experience in containing its spread, doing all we can to provide humanitarian aid in support of the global endeavors to stem the pandemic. So far, China has provided various kinds of assistance in response to the pandemic to more than 150 countries and 7 international organizations, including the FSM. We are pushing forward cooperation on research, development and application of COVID vaccines, committed to making them public goods that are truly accessible and affordable to people in all countries. China has decided to provide 10 million doses of vaccines to COVAX in the coming months, mainly to meet the urgent need in developing countries.
In the past year, by coordinating efforts in pandemic prevention and control and in economic and social development, China became the only major economy to achieve positive growth in 2020, with an increase in GDP by 2.3% to reach a new level of 100 trillion RMB (15.5 billion USD). We’ve made the historic achievement of establishing a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieved decisive success in eradicating extreme poverty, lifting 100 million rural people from which under the current standard. We’ve seen major breakthroughs in science and technology innovation. China has continued to quicken her pace of opening up, with the foreign trade volume and the amount of foreign capital actually used both increasing bucking the trend, especially the imports of goods and services outpacing the global average by a large margin. High-quality Belt and Road cooperation has been advancing steadily. China contributed to 39% of global economic growth last year, highlighting China's role as an important driver of the world growth and the global market confidence, which has illustrated once again that China’s development has a bright prospect that brings about opportunity to the world.
In the past year, though the pandemic temporarily severed the in-person contact between the Chinese and the FSM peoples, it brought even closer our hearts and minds. In the warm-hearted congratulatory messages exchanged between Chinese President Xi Jinping and FSM President David W. Panuelo on several historical occasions, both heads of state reiterated their important consensus reached during President Panuelo's historic state visit to China in December, 2019, which is to develop in length and depth the China-FSM Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and to consolidate our “Great Friendship” on the fundamental bedrock of the One-China Principle. Bearing in mind that we’re on the same boat, China and the FSM have been standing in solidarity, offering mutual assistance and working together to fend off COVID-19, as well as resolutely opposing any attempt at stigmatization, politicizing or labeling the virus. China has donated 30 modular isolation units worth about 1.2 million USD, customized to satisfy the FSM’s need for COVID-19 response. For the same purpose, China has provided to the FSM around 150,000 USD of medical supplies and several cash donations in the total amount of 230,000 USD. We have also shared first-hand knowledge, provided technical support to and coordinated policies with the FSM for combating the virus. Some Chinese sub-national governments, enterprises and friendship organizations have also generously lent their helping hands to their FSM counterparts. In spite of monumental difficulties and economic losses incurred with the pandemic, relevant Chinese contractors tried their best to push forward the China-Aid projects in the FSM under the framework of the Belt and Road. The Khamar Bridge reconstruction project in Pohnpei has been completed and handed over in time. In addition, China is going to donate 10,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, adding more dynamics to the FSM’s efforts to eventually overcome the pandemic, lift the travel ban and reopen businesses.
Nowadays, the human society should properly face and address the four major tasks in the world of our times. The first is to step up macroeconomic policy coordination and jointly promote strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of the world economy. The second is to abandon ideological prejudice and jointly follow a path of peaceful coexistence, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. The third is to close the divide between developed and developing countries and jointly bring about growth and prosperity for all. The fourth is to come together against global challenges and jointly create a better future for humanity. The way to properly deal with the tasks is through upholding multilateralism and building a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity, which is the fundamental connotation of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy.
According to the 12 zodiac animals in the Chinese traditional culture, Year 2021 is a year of the ox. Ox symbolizes diligence and integrity in the Chinese culture. In the New Year, China is embarking on the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. We would like to join hands with the FSM and other countries to work steadfastly and diligently, by taking a realistic and pragmatic approach and upholding the common values of humanity, i.e. peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, toward building a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity in pursuit of an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.