By Li Gen, Yang Peng and Luo Fang

In the beginning of 2020, a sudden outbreak of COVID-19 spread rapidly and deteriorated globally, but it has not completely subsided. South Asia is located in the south of Asia, with a population of about 1.9 billion. It is one of the poorest regions in the world. Due to the unstable political situation in South Asia and the backward medical and health security infrastructure, the COVID-19 epidemic has brought great adverse effects to countries in this region. As of July 10th this year, the total number of infected cases in India has reached 30,752,950, and the death toll has reached more than 405,000. There are 969,476 cases in Pakistan, more than 650,000 cases in Nepal and 276,000 cases recorded in Sri Lanka.

Faced with a large number of infected people, the health care system in South Asian countries is on the verge of collapse, and the economic and social development has been seriously damaged, and even the national security has been seriously threatened. China, as an important country around South Asian countries, is a community of human destiny sharing weal and woe with South Asian countries.  China and South Asian countries have extensive common interests in politics, economy and health cooperation, while the epidemic has not subsided. Politically, the two sides have a high overlapping interests in maintaining regional peace and stability, promoting peace in  Afghanistan, dealing with Iran's nuclear issue, and promoting the reform of multilateral institutions such as the United Nations. Both China and South Asian countries recognize that peace and stability in South Asia are important interests of common concern, the development of China and South Asian countries needs a stable internal and external environment, and a conflicting, turbulent and unstable world is not conducive to their respective development.

In terms of economic and trade development, China's economic and trade cooperation with South Asian countries has developed in-depth, resulting in a mutually beneficial and win-win situation. It is in line with the strategic interests of both sides and conducive to their economic and social development. In terms of health cooperation, China is an important country for importing pharmaceutical raw materials from India and other countries, and it is very important for both sides to ensure the stability of the supply chain. In addition, China is bordered by India, Pakistan, Nepal and other South Asian countries, of which the border with India is more than 1,700 kilometers long and the border with Pakistan is 592 kilometers long. Such a long border has brought great challenges to China's epidemic prevention and control. Facing the risk that the epidemic may get out of control, both sides should be a community sharing weal and woe.

Therefore, it is very important for both sides to continuously and deeply promote anti-epidemic cooperation between China and South Asian countries, oppose "vaccine nationalism", promote fair supply and distribution of vaccines, and carry out vaccine research and development and production cooperation. On April 27, 2021, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a video conference with the foreign ministers of five South Asian countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on the response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In the spirit of cooperation and anti-epidemic, the two sides have helped each other in the same boat and overcome difficulties together. They jointly have to promote economic recovery after the epidemic, safeguard the international and regional environment conducive to the development of all countries, oppose unilateral bullying, interference in internal affairs and double standards, and jointly safeguard regional openness, tolerance and cooperative development. By continuing to hold meetings of foreign ministers, deputy foreign ministers, directors and directors of the six countries, we will continue to broaden the field of pragmatic cooperation, enhance the kinetic energy of regional cooperation and reach consensus in five aspects. China and South Asian countries are striving to practice the concept of "community of human destiny", unite to deal with the epidemic, and promote the restoration of regional economic and social development.

"If one party is in trouble, all parties will support it" should be the motto of cooperation. China and South Asian countries are good friends bordering on mountains and rivers. Records are evident that China will continue to uphold the concept of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, continue to strengthen friendly cooperation with South Asian countries, and promote the building of China-South Asia destiny community.

(Li Gen is a scholar at Yunnan University; Yang Peng, a scholar at Northwest University; Luo Fang, a scholar at Kunming Frontier Information Research Center)