Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that China will continue to offer firm support for Costa Rica's fight against COVID-19 as the coronavirus disease outbreak remains serious in Latin America.
In a phone conversation with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, Xi said China will provide as much assistance as its capacity allows for the Latin American country in line with the latter's needs.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, Costa Rica has offered to provide medical supplies to China, Xi pointed out, adding that China will bear this friendship in mind.
China regards Costa Rica as an important partner in carrying out anti-epidemic cooperation in Latin America, and has donated supplies of epidemic prevention to Costa Rica and held video conferences to share experience in fighting the epidemic, Xi said.
China will continue to firmly safeguard international fairness and justice as well as the legitimate rights of small and medium-sized developing countries and stands ready to work with Costa Rica to strengthen international anti-epidemic cooperation, defend the efforts of developing countries to combat the epidemic, and maintain global public health security, Xi said.
Xi stressed that Costa Rica is a trustworthy strategic partner of China, and bilateral relations have developed smoothly since the two countries established diplomatic ties, with fruitful cooperation results achieved in various areas.
The pandemic has brought some negative impacts on economic and trade cooperation as well as personnel exchanges between the two countries, Xi said, adding that China's policy of promoting long-term friendly cooperation between the two sides will stay the same, and its position of supporting Costa Rica's economic development and improving people's livelihood will not change.
The two sides need to continuously support each other's core interests and major concerns, jointly plan post-epidemic cooperation between the two sides, and push forward practical cooperation under the framework of the joint construction of the Belt and Road, Xi said.
Xi said he believes that bilateral relations will surely see new and greater development after the joint fight against the coronavirus disease.
For his part, Alvarado said since Costa Rica and China established diplomatic ties 13 years ago, the two sides have enjoyed increasingly profound friendship and their mutually beneficial cooperation has been expanding continuously.
Costa Rica firmly adheres to the one-China principle and stands ready to work with China to strengthen cooperation in the fields of public health, infrastructure and culture among others, act as a bridge and gateway for China to engage with Central America and promote the relationship between Costa Rica and China to a new stage, he said.
China is a great country, said Alvarado, adding that Costa Rica admires Xi's experience in governing the country and also his announcement that China's COVID-19 vaccine would be made a global public good.
Appreciating China's firm support for Costa Rica in its fight against the pandemic, Alvarado said that Costa Rica stands ready to work with China to support multilateralism, jointly deal with global challenges including climate change, and promote world peace and development. (Updated)
