The Chinese medical expert team poses for a group photo, before departing for Russia, at the Harbin airport in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Saturday. Photo: CNR

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation on Thursday. This is the second phone conversation between the two heads of state in a month. This shows that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era is playing an important role in fighting the epidemic.

Both China and Russia are important battlefields in the global fight against novel coronavirus. The success or failure of the two countries in fighting the epidemic has global significance. China's all-out anti-virus fight began early and has achieved initial results. Russia is at the height of the fighting. The two countries are linked by mountains and rivers and have frequent exchanges. China and Russia are well placed to create an example of comprehensive cooperation against the novel coronavirus.

The number of confirmed cases in Russia is rising, but it has so far kept the mortality rate at a low level, less than 1 percent. When the number of cases in various countries reached more than 20,000 in the past, few countries have achieved this. If Russia can maintain its low death rate, this is a very respectable effort.

COVID-19 outbreak is so difficult to control that China briefly reduced the number of newly confirmed cases to zero, but soon faced new challenges of imported infection. In addition, the problems of cured patients testing positive again and asymptomatic patients also appeared in China. We face a difficult balancing act between economic recovery and continued fight against the epidemic. The fight against the epidemic seems to be a protracted battle. China was the first country to control the spread of the COVID-19, but that doesn't mean we're really ahead of the curve. There are so many battles ahead that we can't afford to lose any of them.

However, China has indeed proved that novel coronavirus can be controlled and defeated. Russia with its own medical resources, experience and tenacity will surely be able to overcome the epidemic expansion in an effective way.

China and Russia are at different stages of epidemic prevention and control. As neighboring countries, China and Russia enjoy high strategic mutual trust and huge advantages in cooperation against the epidemic. The two countries can leverage each other's medical resources and experience to completely overcome the barriers to cooperation that have emerged between the rest of the world. 

There is a lot of talk right now about the unprecedented impact of the pandemic on the world, and a lot of fear that the world is going to be thrown into chaos. However, we believe that this outbreak will only bring China and Russia closer together and make our strategic cooperation more solid.