Photo: IC

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on and a border spat brews between China and India, scholars from the two Asian powers emphasized the importance of cooperation, calling on the two countries to avoid confrontation in a video symposium on Monday. 

Cooperation is the only effective way to contain the pandemic. As two influential powers in Asia, China and India should set an example in promoting cooperation in the virus fight, and there is great potential for the two countries to cooperate in propelling reforms in international organizations and mechanisms as well as global governance, scholars said.  

Li Tao, the executive director of the Institute of South Asian Studies of Sichuan University, said the proper measures taken by China and India in responding to the pandemic have played a key role in putting the pandemic situation in Asia under control, but influenced by some powers outside the region, the two countries have overlooked their potential to cooperate in the virus fight. 

Mahendra P. Lama, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the response of the US, the country hit hardest by the COVID-19 epidemic, is "baffling, directionless and pathetic" and it's finding excuses to hide its inefficiency and galvanizing the pandemic to suit its domestic political compulsion. 

The pandemic has made the world realize how "under-prepared, ill-equipped, dispersed and disconnected" the world has been despite globalization, and a very effective way forward is for India, China, Japan, South Korea, ASEAN and South Asian countries to work together and overcome this process of extreme derailment, according to Lama.

Over 20 scholars participated in the conference hosted by the China Council for BRICS Think Tank Cooperation and Institute of South Asian Studies of Sichuan University. 

Global Times