国内英语新闻:Spotlight: Good-neighborly bond highlighted in China-ASEAN joint fight against COVID-19

HONG KONG, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's medical student Sok Sambo volunteered to work as an interpreter for the Chinese COVID-19 medical team in Cambodia without hesitation, though he knew the job had high risks.

"This is my meager contribution to help my motherland fight the virus," said Sambo, a medical student at Guangxi Medical University in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The seven-member team of Chinese doctors, along with tons of medical supplies, arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, in late March to help combat the bruising pandemic when the Southeast Asian kingdom reported 86 infections by then.

ROLE MODEL

During their stay in Cambodia, the Chinese medical team visited designated hospitals, communities and testing agencies to carry out epidemiological investigations and review the diagnosis and treatment process of the hospitals.

"We have gone through the entire treatment process twice, including admission to hospital, triage and sample testing," said Ai Xiang, leader of the Chinese medical team in Cambodia.

The medical experts also visited the Cambodian Ministry of Health to discuss the COVID-19 prevention and treatment system with local officials and medical workers.

As hundreds of thousands of Cambodian migrant workers have been leaving Phnom Penh for their home provinces to celebrate the Khmer New Year, which falls on April 14-16 this year, how to prevent the spread of the virus during the holiday exodus became an urgent task, he said.

Sambo was busy working together with the Chinese experts to take stock of the epidemic situation in Cambodia. The 32-year-old medical student deemed the volunteer work as a very good opportunity to learn experience from the Chinese doctors.

"They worked very hard, visiting various places and meeting people at daytime and writing reports at nighttime," he said. "They are a role model for other doctors, and when I graduate I'll try my best to serve my people."

RECIPROCAL HELP

Vietnam, the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for 2020, will host a special virtual summit among 10 ASEAN members and three dialogue partners -- China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) -- Tuesday on the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It demonstrates the determination and willingness of East Asian countries to work together to combat the pandemic and safeguard regional economic development," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday.

When China was fighting an all-out war against the COVID-19 outbreak in February, ASEAN nations donated money and medical materials to China, and leaders of ASEAN countries expressed their sympathies to China and resolve to jointly overcome the virus.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen paid a special visit to Beijing on Feb. 5, which, as Chinese President Xi Jinping put it, demonstrated the unbreakable friendship and mutual trust between the two countries.

As a Chinese saying goes, "The grace of dripping water should be reciprocated by a gushing spring." When the pandemic spread in ASEAN countries, China came to their help after it contained its own outbreak.

Less than five days after Laos reported its first two imported COVID-19 cases on March 24, a team of Chinese medical experts from China's southwestern Yunnan Province flew to the Lao capital of Vientiane with medical supplies.

"We will join the Lao side to perfect its epidemic prevention and control system, and draw up a diagnosis and treatment guideline that suits the Lao situation. In short, we are together to formulate a roadmap for the fight against COVID-19 in Laos," Huang Xingli, head of the Chinese medical expert team, told Xinhua.

In the Philippines, a 12-member Chinese medical team was also racing against time to help contain the killer virus as the total number of infections in the country surpassed 4,600, with 297 deaths.

"We'd like to see the frontline experience be brought here in the Philippines, so we should be able to learn and eventually curtail and fight COVID-19 here in the Philippines," Assistant Health Secretary Kenneth Ronquillo said after a briefing session with the Chinese medical experts.

In the meantime, a medical team from southwest China's Yunnan Province arrived in Yangon on April 8 to assist Myanmar's efforts against COVID-19 as the country has reported 39 cases so far. Along with the team also arrived 5.3 tons of materials, lab testing equipment and protective gears.

COMMUNITY WITH SHARED FUTURE

By sharing anti-epidemic experience, dispatching expert teams and offering medical supplies, China is repaying the kindness and support of its ASEAN neighbors.

"We are very confident in Chinese experts' skills and experience. The World Health Organization also highly values and cherishes China's resources and experience. As a public health professional, I think what China has done is of great significance to Cambodia," said Li Ailan, the WHO representative in Cambodia.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading rapidly around the world. More than 1.69 million confirmed cases were reported globally as of Sunday, including more than 100,000 deaths, according to the daily situation report of WHO.

The pandemic has once again proved the importance and urgency of building a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi pointed out during a phone conversation early April with Bounnhang Vorachith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and president of Laos.

In a phone conversation with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo on April 2, Xi said China will share its experience and provide as much support as it can for the global battle against COVID-19, and work with other countries to promote the development of global public health and build a community of common health for mankind.

Sounthone Xayachack, head of the LPRP Central Committee's commission for external relations, said the battle against COVID-19 showed that a single person, or a single society, cannot overcome this pandemic, and "the best way to overcome the disease is governments around the world working together to effectively control the disease and achieve victory."

Besides Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Myanmar, China has also dispatched medical expert teams to Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Italy, Serbia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela and Russia, and offered medical supplies and donations to a number of virus-stricken countries.

(Xinhua reporters Mao Pengfei in Phnom Penh, Che Hongliang in Yangon and Yang Ke in Manila also contributed to the story.)