Liu Guangyuan, Chinese Ambassador to Poland Photo: Courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in Poland

A China-Europe freight train departs from Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province in August. Photo: CNSphoto

The year 2020 will be an extraordinary one thanks to the global spread of COVID-19 posing increasingly large challenges for countries around the world.

The epidemic has made the cross-border movement of people and the transportation of goods extremely difficult, and undoubtedly also had an impact on the Belt and Road cooperation. 

But the impact is only temporary. In the long run, the foundation for the joint development of the Belt and Road between China and Poland is solid, and points to an even brighter future after being tested by the epidemic.

Though thousands of miles apart, China and Poland are old friends. In the nearly 71 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, bilateral relations have maintained sound and steady development despite changes in the fluctuating international landscape. 

In particular, after the exchange of visits by President Andrzej Duda in 2015 and President Xi Jinping in 2016, China-Poland relations have been upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Cooperation in various fields has been further deepened.

As early as 2015, Poland signed an inter-governmental memorandum of understanding with China to jointly promote development under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In recent years, Poland has given full play to their own advantages to consolidate the foundation for cooperation between itself and China to jointly build the Belt and Road.

Poland is an important country along the route. Nearly 90 percent of the China-Europe freight trains pass through or arrive in Poland, making them key arteries connecting Europe and Asia. The Port of Gdansk is COSCO's Baltic distribution center, with 20,000 TEU vessels sailing between Poland and the Far East every week.

Poland, as an emerging EU economy, has become one of the fastest growing EU member states in recent years, and the country has been China's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe for 14 consecutive years.

In 2019, bilateral trade between China and Poland reached $27.8 billion, up 13.4 percent year-on-year. The number of Chinese companies in Poland has increased to nearly 70, with the overall direct and indirect investments in the country exceeding $3 billion.

Meanwhile, the two countries have established 37 pairs of sister provinces and cities and held several China-Poland sub-national cooperation forums. The two sides are also committed to deepening ties in areas such as energy, transportation, logistics and infrastructure to enhance the value of the cooperation.

Joint fight against pandemic

Since the beginning of this year, in the face of the severe challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, China-Poland cooperation has made great strides in the fight against the virus. The momentum of practical cooperation has continued unabated.

In the early days of the outbreak, President Duda sent a letter to President Xi, expressing sympathy and support for China's fight against the pandemic. Since then, the heads of state and prime ministers of the two countries have had telephone conversations and reached an important consensus on working together to fight the pandemic.

Health authorities and medical experts from the two countries have also maintained close contact, sharing information and experience in the prevention and control of COVID-19. Sectors of Polish society immediately extended a helping hand to Wuhan and other Chinese cities in the early days of the pandemic, while medical supplies provided by Chinese central and local governments, enterprises and the private sector have also been flowing into Poland.

As the pandemic has been brought under control in both countries, China has invited the Polish side to participate in a video conference on the resumption of work for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China and Central and Eastern Europe, to encourage SMEs from both sides to deepen cooperation and speed up the resumption of work and production. 

A China Poland International Digital Trade Expo has also taken place, providing a platform for nearly 1,000 Chinese enterprises to conduct online discussions with their Polish counterparts.

Poland is also actively preparing to participate in the 3rd China International Import Expo (Enterprise & Business Exhibition) this year to promote the export of quality products to China. The number of shipments arriving in Poland from China for the first five months of 2020 increased by 30 percent compared with the same period in 2019, according to Poland's state-owned mail company, Polish Post. 

As the potential for China-Poland cooperation continues unhindered, the Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries also makes steady progress.

Power China and InterCor signed the Polish E75 in June for the repair project of the Chizhev-Bialystok railway with Polish National Railways (PKP). This is the first time that a Chinese enterprise completed a modern railway project contracted in the EU market through public bidding.

As part of the Pan-European railway backbone network, the project will enable the line to operate at a maximum speed of 200 kilometers per hour, which will play an important role in connectivity. It is believed that with the joint efforts of both sides, China and Poland will surely find more cooperation areas under the BRI framework, so as to better complement each other's advantages and achieve mutual benefits.

Throughout history, it has been in the struggle against major disasters that mankind has achieved development and progress. 

As time marches on, China-Poland's Belt and Road cooperation will not stop moving forward and our two countries will continue to deepen and expand practical cooperation in various fields, better align our development strategies, and make the most of our complementary strengths for a brighter future.

The author is the Chinese Ambassador to Poland