Xi's New Year speech inspires world to build community with shared future amid pandemic -- experts

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The New Year speech of Chinese President Xi Jinping inspires the world in building a community with a shared future for mankind amid the COVID-19 pandemic, experts and analysts have said.

In his speech delivered Thursday, Xi highlighted China's achievements in fighting the pandemic and poverty alleviation in 2020, as well as the joint efforts with the international community in fighting the coronavirus, they said.

Sykhoun Bounvilay, general secretary of the Laos-China Friendship Association, said that Laos is deeply encouraged by China's significant achievements in COVID-19 prevention and control, as well as its socio-economic development.

Bounvilay, also an expert on international studies, noted that the year has seen Laos benefiting from the construction of a Laos-China community with a shared future, and the fruitful results in jointly building the Belt and Road have laid a new foundation and opened a fresh terrain for economic connections across the region.

Stephen Perry, chairman of Britain's 48 Group Club, said since the reform and opening-up, the Chinese government has improved its people's livelihood, setting an example for the world in poverty eradication.

Chea Munyrith, planning and project director of Civil Society Alliance Forum in Cambodia, told Xinhua that from a standpoint of promoting a shared development for humankind, Xi appealed in his speech for solidarity from people around the world to prevail over the pandemic.

Munyrith, also a sinologist, noted that such perspective once again shows that China is looking at a bigger picture.

French writer and sinologist Sonia Bressler said Xi's speech showed the world the Chinese people's "extraordinary tenacity" in fighting the epidemic. "Heroes come from the people," she quoted Xi's speech as saying, noting that China's containment of the virus is attributed to all efforts made by the people.

Ronnie Lins, director of the China-Brazil Center for Research and Business, said Xi's speech was very inspiring.

China has achieved a decisive victory in eradicating poverty and will continue deepening reforms, expanding opening up and strengthening innovation to continuously push forward its development, he said.