Huazhong Tu & Ting zhao

At present, the COVID-19 epidemic has swept the world, causing hundreds of thousands of people to lose their lives. Most observers are still pessimistic about when the COVID-19 epidemic will end. The COVID-19 epidemic also has had a great impact on Pakistan, which not only severely impacted Pakistan's medical system, but also exerted a negative influence on Pakistan's social and economic development.

In the early stage of the epidemic, some countries took the epidemic lightly. What these countries did were blaming China and imposing medical equipment, medical materials and living materials embargo against China. In other countries, the prevention and control measures were careless and shirked, which eventually led to a large-scale outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in some countries and continued to spread to other countries and regions. Just as a Chinese saying goes, “A fire on the city gate brings disaster to the fish in the moat”. With the globalization of the whole world, no country can survive from the global crisis. A fire in one's neighbor's house will inevitably affect one's own home. This is a simple truth. However, many short-sighted countries have not understood it yet China should not be short-sighted while the COVID-19 epidemic are sweeping over the world. If the COVID-19 epidemic continues to get out of control, it will inevitably spread to a wider range of the world. If it continues to spread to countries with weak medical systems, such as Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia, it will inevitably lead to a wider range of humanitarian disasters. China has close ties with the above-mentioned countries and regions. Moreover, there are tens of thousands of Chinese-funded institutions and millions of overseas Chinese in these countries. The COVID-19 epidemic has been gradually controlled in China with the joint efforts of Chinese people and government and China should join hands with other countries in the world as soon as possible. China can share experience in prevention and treatment with foreign countries, provide medical personnel and material aid to some poverty-stricken countries and regions, and play an active part in the vaccine research and development.

After the outbreak of the epidemic in China, Pakistan offered a great deal of assistance to China. Pakistan's assistance to China also won praise and gratitude from the Chinese people. At present, the COVID-19 epidemic has hindered the cooperation between China and Pakistan and the normal exchange activities and personnel exchanges between China and Pakistan have been affected to some extent. Pakistan has made great achievements in curbing the spread of COVID-19 epidemic, and the number of newly confirmed case is decreasing every day. The bilateral exchange activities between China and Pakistan will gradually return to normal. The COVID-19 epidemic is the common enemy of China and Pakistan. China and Pakistan should work together actively to fight against the epidemic, Meanwhile, China and Pakistan should further deepen cooperation in the fields of science and technology, economy, education and culture. At the beginning of this year, the locust plague in Africa affected the agricultural production in Pakistan. China sent an expert group to Pakistan, which made great contributions to minimize the bad influence of locust plague and restore the agricultural production in Pakistan. According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Finance of Pakistan, Pakistan's economy is recovering and is expected to return to positive growth in the second half of the year.

As mentioned earlier, the COVID-19 epidemic has affected the bilateral exchange activities and personnel exchanges between China and Pakistan, and also delayed the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The successful construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor demands joint efforts of China and Pakistan. At present, the decline of personnel exchanges has affected the promotion of some projects. However, it can be predicted that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will gradually return to the right track as the epidemic situation is gradually controlled. At present, the most important thing in China-Pakistan relations lies in how to further strengthen cooperation, prevent the sustained damage of the COVID-19 epidemic to the economies of both countries, and promote the development of China-Pakistan relations in an orderly manner. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an open platform. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, Pakistan had actively invited Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other countries to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and planned to extend it to Afghanistan. At present, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has received positive response and support from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other countries. Predictably, with the joint efforts of China and Pakistan, more countries will join in the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor after the epidemic. The development of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will further promote the development of China-Pakistan relations.

（ Huazhong Tu, Scholar, Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences; Ting Zhao, Scholar, Yunnan University Of Business Management）