4 | Thursday, July 29, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA Crystal clear Cooperation: Weihui battles Strategic partnership back from ‘beneficial to both sides’ From page 1 record deluge Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, which holds ASEAN’s rotating chairmanship this year, Flooded area still struggling, but plans recently endorsed the fruitful are being drawn up to kick-start recovery results of 30 years of ASEAN- China collaboration. He said that ASEAN-China relations are By YANG ZEKUN basically returned to normal, with among the bloc’s most strategic and SHI BAOYIN in Zhengzhou businesses gradually resuming and comprehensive partner- operation,” Wu said. ships, adding that he is confi- A total of 204,000 people have Shen Jiwei, an official with the dent the partnership will create been relocated due to heavy rainfall Henan Provincial Water Resources a better future for the people of and severe flooding in Weihui, Department, said Weihui’s location Children perform a science experiment to make drops immediately turn into crystals when placed in all the countries involved. Henan province, and a number of at the intersection of two rivers, a glass of liquid at an activity center in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Wednesday. ASEAN Secretary-General disaster relief and recovery meas- combined with the heavy rainfall, Under the guidance of teachers, the children experienced the wonder of science while performing Dato Lim Jock Hoi said, “Not ures have been implemented, local was responsible for the flooding, the popular activity. DING GENHOU / FOR CHINA DAILY only is the China-ASEAN strate- officials said on Wednesday. and made it difficult for water to gic partnership beneficial to Figures released by the provincial drain away. both sides, but it also has signifi- government said that by noon Shen said that as the level of the cant impact on the situation in Wednesday, at least 73 people had Weihe River remains high, water is our region and beyond. died in Henan since July 16 as a not draining away smoothly. In China’s support for ASEAN “is result of the downpours and 13.66 addition, a large nearby canal had Less politics sought in virus debate a concrete manifestation of Chi- million people had been affected. been breached, further flooding na’s support for regionalism and Nearly 180,000 hectares of crops Weihui and making the waterlog- By ZHANG ZHIHAO tional cooperation can we ensure tists, namely, that science has no multilateralism”, he said via vid- had been destroyed and over 17,000 ging even more serious. The breach [email protected] global public health security.” borders, and science and technology eo link on Wednesday while houses had collapsed. was repaired on Monday. Wang said that since the COVID- should benefit all mankind, he said. addressing an international Authorities have now dug drain- Greater international coopera- 19 outbreak, China has taken the “The international scientific com- symposium, hosted by the China age ditches and built cofferdams to tion on combating the COVID-19 “most comprehensive, rigorous and munity must adamantly push back Institute of International Stud- try to keep the water out of the city. pandemic is needed and less politi- thorough measures” to curb the dis- against these political challenges,” ies in Beijing, to mark the dia- They have also brought in more cization of scientific issues, such as ease, allowing the country to go he said. logue partnership’s 30th pumping equipment and opened tracing the origin of the virus that from being the most vulnerable to Kazuki Okimura, former president anniversary. Zhengzhou 10 sluices to drain water into the causes the disease, according to Chi- the virus to one of the safest nations of the Japan Science and Technology Aaron Jed Rabena, a research Weihui river. nese scientists and scholars. in the world. Agency, said science exchanges and fellow at the Asia-Pacific Path- Henan “We will try our best to solve the Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Cen- China has also taken concrete cooperation, such as those between ways to Progress Foundation, a waterlogging in Weihui in the next ter for Disease Control and Preven- actions to improve global public China and Japan, are important for Philippine think tank, told the three days,” Wu said. tion, said investigating the origin of health in regard to the COVID-19 training talented people, building ties symposium that the Belt and Xinxiang’s city government has the virus is a scientific question that pandemic, including monetary and promoting progress. Road Initiative is an “evolving CHINA DAILY sent five working teams focused should be answered scientifically. donations to the World Health From 2013 until the COVID-19 regimen”. He added that he sees on different areas, including emer- “Nobody should be blaming oth- Organization and providing vacci- outbreak in December 2019, Japan the BRI as a framework for meas- gency rescue, resettlement, health ers. Probing the origin of the virus nes and aid to other countries. invited over 10,000 Chinese stu- uring China-ASEAN joint 16 and epidemic prevention, to help cannot be politicized,” he said dur- “Only by respecting human lives dents and researchers to the coun- achievements. million cubic Weihui recover. It also provided ing the 23rd Annual Meeting of the as the upmost priority, along with try for exchange programs, half the relief materials and funds China Association for Science and enhancing cooperation and mutual Okimura said. However, the pan- Focus on teamwork meters needed. Technology, which started on Tues- assistance, can the international demic has put the program on hold As a highlight of bilateral col- Amount of floodwaters remain- More than 2,200 rescue personnel day and ended on Wednesday. community form a collective force for over 18 months. laboration, the ASEAN-China ing in Weihui, Henan province from Henan and other provinces are Gao said the pathogen may gain to tackle emerging public health cri- Although COVID-19 is largely Free Trade Area, upgraded in also helping in Xinxiang. They are new properties by mutating and ses and embrace a … healthy under control in China, the rest of 2019, is the largest free trade area concentrated in Weihui, rescuing then breaching the body’s immune future,” she said. the world is still suffering the impact among developing countries in Most of the urban area of Wei- people and transferring them to system. Therefore, it is important to Xue Lan, dean of Schwarzman of the coronavirus and its variants. the world. hui, a low-lying county-level city in hospitals and nursing homes. enhance international scientific College at Tsinghua University, said As a result, international relations Trade volume between China the northern part of Xinxiang, Li Zhiyong, Weihui’s executive cooperation based on openness, that after the end of the Cold War, will likely witness major changes in and ASEAN continued to see remains submerged, and nearly vice-mayor, said its government will trust and collaboration, he added. international cooperation on sci- the future, he said. “This means Chi- robust growth this year, surging 300,000 residents have been come up with plans for recovery and Wang Hongyang, a noted oncolo- ence and technology rapidly na-Japan cooperation is growing 27.8 percent year-on-year in the affected, Xinxiang Vice-Mayor Wu the resumption of work and produc- gist and an academician of the Chi- expanded, but in recent years, polit- more important than ever, and we first six months, according to the Shengjun told a news conference tion as soon as possible. nese Academy of Engineering, said ical issues between major countries look forward to building a relation- Ministry of Commerce. on Wednesday. “We had already purchased pub- the current public health challenges have undermined this momentum. ship with China based on mutual Zhang Jianping, director-gen- Between July 17 and 22, Xinxiang lic security and property insurance are unprecedented. “People are “All of humanity has benefited learning and win-win collaboration.” eral of the ministry’s China Cen- experienced the heaviest rains it had for all of the residents, and have starting to realize that when a pub- from global cooperation in science In an online opinion poll con- ter for Regional Economic ever recorded, with an average of launched a compensation mecha- lic health crisis hits, there is no such and technology,” Xue said. ducted by CGTN Think Tank, 80 Cooperation, said ASEAN has 830 millimeters and a maximum of nism to help industrial and com- thing as a safe harbor,” she said at Now, there are politicians whose percent of global respondents stood out as China’s largest trad- 965.5 mm of rain falling. mercial enterprises resume work the meeting. “We are all in this agendas are interfering with the col- believe that the issue of COVID-19 ing partner, adding that ASEAN Floodwaters in Weihui peaked at and production and restore normal together, and only through interna- laborative consensus among scien- origin tracing has been politicized. countries are where land and sea 20 million cubic meters, of which 16 conditions as soon as possible,” Li BRI routes meet and the group- million remain, Wu said. said. ing is now a pillar of the BRI’s net- “By now, apart from the urban work of partners. areas of Weihui, there is no water- Contact the writers at Given the “systemic China- logging elsewhere and Xinxiang has [email protected] Salesperson still tops job vacancies ASEAN cooperation” in commu- nicating policy and beefing up By CHENG SI let alone younger ones,” said Li Jian, put more effort into nurturing pro- interconnectivity, their bilateral [email protected] who operates a Japanese restaurant fessional and experienced workers.