As people from across the world celebrated the New Year, a chartered cargo plane loaded with 35 tons of emergency relief supplies landed in Port Vila on January 2, 2025. This plane brought special gifts and best wishes from the Chinese people to the Vanuatu people, who had just experienced a massive earthquake. Vanuatu Caretaker Prime Minister Charlot Salwai and Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu Li Minggang attended the handover ceremony and signed the handover certificate.

Nearly 1pm on December 17, 2024, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake that struck off the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu killed at least 14 people, injured hundreds more and caused widespread damage across the country. As the most powerful earthquake in Vanuatu in recent decades, landslides, cracked ground and collapsed houses have made the rescue more difficult.

China took immediate action after the earthquake. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) made statements rapidly. On December 21, Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu Li Minggang met with Caretaker Prime Minister Salwai and handed over 100,000 dollars in emergency humanitarian cash assistance provided by the Red Cross Society of China.

On December 23, The Chinese government provided 1 million dollars in emergency assistance to Vanuatu to support its post-disaster reconstruction. Ambassador Li Minggang and the Chinese company visited the community of Beauty Village in Port Vila, and donated 1 ton of tuna meat and 100 cartons of clean water to help the villagers tide over the difficulties. The villagers said that this was the first group of international friends to visit the village with supplies after the earthquake. "Chinese friends understand Vanuatu's urgent needs and always provide timely assistance, China truly deserves the title of 'friend'".

On December 30,?Chinese seismic experts?led by Professor Dai Junwu from the China Earthquake Administration?arrived at?Port Vila. "This is the first time that China has sent an emergency post-disaster assessment team to a Pacific island country, with hope to make contributions to Vanuatu's post-earthquake reconstruction," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday, adding that China is willing to continue to provide assistance in light of the situation and local needs.

China's assistance lies not only in cash, but also in the friendship with the people of Vanuatu. For a long time after the disaster, there was no water, electricity or Internet, which made it extremely difficult to carry out rescue work. There is an old Chinese saying that goes, "There are more ways than difficulties". As there is no electricity, Chinese embassy and local overseas Chinese offered their small power generation equipments to meet basic electricity needs. As the communication was down, Chinese diplomats went to the National Disaster Management Center of Vanuatu multiple times to learn the latest local demands. As there was no prompt rescue force, the Chinese Embassy organized local Chinese people to carry out rescue work.

The Chinese medical team in Vanuatu actively treated local people in local hospitals. The Chinese police advisory team in Vanuatu also went to the earthquake scene to help with the rescue efforts. Chinese companies such as China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation of South Pacific have offered their machinery and equipment voluntarily, and donated materials to assist the Vanuatu government in post-earthquake safety assessment of buildings such as the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. Chinese Companies have also led professional teams to inspect the damage to houses, and assisted in making reconstruction and repair plans. They have also donated drinking water and food to the local community, overcoming difficulties together with the local people. On December 24, two Chinese Companies, Wilco and Santo Water donated building materials worth 6 million Vatu and 100 boxes of bottled mineral water to the National Disaster Management Office.

Vanuatu expressed its thanks to China for its assistance. Minister of Lands of Vanuatu Mahe said emotively that "in the face of huge disasters, the help of Chinese friends is very valuable." Some Vanuatuan said that "China not only helped build buildings, roads and bridges, but also provided urgent practical assistance such as food supplies when Vanuatu needed it most. The goodwill of Chinese friends will never be forgotten by the Vanuatu people".

This is not the first time that China has extended a helping hand to Pacific island countries. Earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters occur frequently in the South Pacific region. As a good friend, good brother and good partner of Pacific island countries, China has responded promptly every time.

In January 2022, with Tonga's submarine volcano Hunga Haapai large-scale eruption, with power, communications and shipping routes of Tonga were paralyzed. At this critical moment, Tonga received the first batch of emergency relief supplies from China. Subsequently, Two Chinese navy vessels arrived in Tonga with full supplies. A large number of local people went to the embassy to express their gratitude.

In early 2023, Vanuatu was hit by two super hurricanes in succession, which caused severe destruction of a large number of houses and public facilities along with significant property losses. In order to deliver the materials to Vanuatu as quickly as possible, the Chinese government decided to provide emergency relief materials including tents, roll-away beds and first aid kits to Vanuatu by means of charter flights. At the same time, China provided a total of 600,000 USD in cash assistance to Vanuatu for the local purchase of food, drinking water, medical supplies and other relief materials and the deployment of disaster relief personnel. The Chinese navy also sent its vessel to Vanuatu to deliver the second batch of emergency relief supplies.

In April 2024, a Chinese transport plane loaded with tents, solar lights, water purifiers, small generators and other humanitarian relief supplies rushed to Papua New Guinea which was suffering from floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters at the time. "A friend in need is a friend indeed." The most powerful strength comes from the mutual support of the two peoples. Once again, China has offered its emergency humanitarian assistance to Vanuatu, which showcases the true nature of a community with a shared future of mankind, and demonstrates the responsibility China has taken as a major country.

The author is an international observer.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

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