When China was fighting its key battle against the novel coronavirus in Hubei province, people from various sectors of society in Bahrain offered sympathy and support to China and they spoke highly of China's decisive, effective and strong measures and its open, transparent and responsible cooperation with the World Health Organization and the international community. Bahrain stressed that its government and people stood firmly with the Chinese government and people and were confident that the Chinese people would beat the virus, and it was willing to help China within its capacity.

In his letter to President Xi Jinping on Feb 20, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa expressed appreciation for the Chinese government's role in fighting the coronavirus and extended support for China's pandemic control measures. He also expressed his hopes for the early recovery of patients and greater prosperity for the friendly Chinese people. On the same day, Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa wrote respective letters of sympathy to President Xi, offering their support and encouragement for China's anti-pandemic efforts.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain donated medical resources to China through the Bahraini embassy in China. The University of Bahrain contributed protective supplies to its Chinese partner Shanghai University. And some Bahraini residents even made trips to the Chinese embassy in Bahrain and brought us masks. A video recorded by the students of the Confucius Institute of the University of Bahrain on Feb 10 quickly went viral on social media. In the video, the students shouted in Chinese: "We're with the Chinese people!" and "Stay Strong China!"

With the pandemic still raging in many parts of the world, Bahrain is facing severe challenges, but has adopted a host of highly effective control measures in a timely manner. At the critical moment in Bahrain's fight against the virus, China conducted active communication, coordination and cooperation with Bahrain, offering medical materials and facilitating Bahrain's purchase of such materials in China.

As President Xi wrote to King Hamad on March 25, China stands ready to strengthen cooperation, share experience and work together with Bahrain to safeguard regional and global public health security. China invited two Bahrain medical experts to the China-Arab League videoconference on combating COVID-19, and shared its experience and expertise in pandemic prevention and treatment plans. The foreign minister of China lost no time in facilitating Gulf Air charter flights transporting medical resources from Guangzhou, Guangdong province. Chinese companies in Bahrain actively donated medical materials and participated in local pandemic control efforts. The government of Hebei province donated 25,000 masks to the Capital Governorate of Bahrain. China National Electric Engineering contributed medical resources to the Bahrain Water and Electricity Authority.

At the ninth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum held via video links on July 6, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani spoke highly of the achievements of pragmatic cooperation between China and Bahrain and between China and Arab states. He also expressed huge appreciation for China's tremendous anti-pandemic efforts and the results of China-Arab joint actions, and emphasized support for the Belt and Road Initiative and the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation to combat the novel coronavirus.

The China-Bahrain friendship has a long history and is growing stronger as time goes by. Bahrain is not just an important member of the Arab League, but a vital partner of China in the Gulf region. In the past 31 years since the diplomatic relations of the two countries were established, high-level interactions have become intensive, political mutual trust is being consolidated, economic and trade cooperation is making steady progress and people-to-people and cultural exchanges are generating fruitful achievements. China and Bahrain have conducted productive cooperation within the framework of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and made substantive progress in pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative, bringing tangible benefits to the two countries and peoples and laying a solid foundation for safeguarding security and stability together in the Middle East and the Gulf region. The two countries have given each other lasting and strong support during the pandemic, which has further advanced the traditional friendship between the two countries, deepened pragmatic cooperation in various aspects and injected new impetus into the bilateral relationship. This has shown once again that China and Bahrain are good friends and good partners with mutual support and trust.

The author is the Chinese ambassador to Bahrain.

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.