By H.E. Nong Rong, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Pakistan

TEXT: October first is a great and solemn day in the history of the Chinese nation, featuring the founding of the People's Republic of China. On this special occasion, on behalf of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, I would like to extend my best wishes to the great motherland for her 72nd birthday, and may the great country be prosperous forever.

2021 is an extraordinary year, which marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the beginning of China's new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country. We are ready to work with all parties to uphold true multilateralism, advocate trust and harmony, promote win-win cooperation, and march with firm steps toward the goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind. Through the continued efforts of the whole Party and the entire nation, China has realized its first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. This means that China has brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China, and we are now marching in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all aspects.

Over the past 72 years, China has made unprecedented achievements, with its total economic output surpassing 100 trillion yuan in 2020. This means China is the second largest economy in the world and makes up roughly 17% of the world economy. Per capita GDP has broken the US$10,000 mark, putting China into the category of upper-middle income countries according to World Bank standards. There have been major breakthroughs in continuing reform, while the Chinese socialist system has been further refined. Considerable advances have been made in building democracy and the rule of law, as well as in modernizing China's governance system and capacity. Living standards have improved significantly, higher education has entered the stage of being widely accessible, and new success has been achieved in creating urban jobs. We have built the world's largest social security system, with a basic medical insurance system that covers more than 1.3 billion people and basic old-age insurance that covers nearly 1 billion people. Our environmental protection endeavors have undergone historic, pivotal, and sweeping changes. Historic breakthroughs have been made in reform of national defense and the armed forces, and we have broken new ground and scored new victories in major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics for the new era. These feats have fully demonstrated the CPC's capacity to lead and govern, illustrated the marked advantages and vitality of the Chinese socialist system and China's national governance system, and displayed the value and strength in practice of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, China keeps strengthening international pandemic cooperation to jointly build a line of defense for life and health. In his message to the First Meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation, President Xi Jinping announced that China will strive to provide 2 billion doses of vaccines to the world in the course of this year, and donate US$100 million to the COVAX Facility. This is a major step on China's part to follow through on its commitment of making COVID vaccines a global public good, and will boost the global effort to end the pandemic at an early date. As of September 6, 2.11 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in China, and 969.72 million Chinese people have been fully vaccinated.

The international arena is going through profound transformation, the Covid-19 pandemic keeps raging with frequent flare-ups, and the world economy faces a daunting recovery. The world is at a new historical crossroads. Human development now faces multiple crises and the global governance system is undergoing profound adjustment. International cooperation is going with both stern challenges and important opportunities. Now more than ever, the international community needs to come together to meet the challenges and promote common development. No matter how the international landscape evolves, China will resolutely safeguard UN's core role in international affairs, stay firmly on the right side of history, strive to build a community with a shared future for mankind, join hands with all progressive forces in the world, and work tirelessly to advance the noble cause of peace and development for humanity.

China and Pakistan are equal friends who understand and respect each other, friends in need who share weal and woe, devoted friends of integrity, and friends for moral justice who shoulder responsibilities together. 70 years of progress through thick and thin between China and Pakistan have forged a unique iron-clad friendship, and established an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership. A high degree of mutual trust, mutual assistance, seeking peace and promoting development together are the most distinctive features of China-Pakistan relations, and the greatest strength in moving forward together. Over the past year, the China-Pakistan friendship has stood up to the test of major changes and a global pandemic unseen in a century. The facts have proven once again that China and Pakistan are the most reliable good neighbors, friends, brothers and partners to each other, and the friendship between the two countries is unbreakable. China is willing to work with Pakistan to accelerate the construction of a closer community with a shared future in the new era, bring more benefits to the two peoples, and make greater contributions to regional stability and prosperity.

Looking back, the friendship between China and Pakistan has remained rock-solid, regardless how the regional and international landscapes have evolved. It is fair to say that China and Pakistan always make each other the priority in developing foreign relations. In April 2015, President Xi Jinping's state visit upgraded China-Pakistan relations to a unique All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership, opening a new chapter in China-Pakistan friendship, and rolling out the construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridor. At present, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has entered a stage of high-quality development. In March 2020, Pakistani President Arif Alvi visited China to support China's fight against the Covid-19. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan visited China three times since he took office, injecting new vitality into the high-quality development of China-Pakistan relations.

Looking ahead, China is willing to work with Pakistan to take the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to accelerate the construction of a closer community with a shared future in the new era, bring more benefits to the two peoples, and make greater contributions to regional stability and prosperity. We are confident that our joint efforts will inject new impetus into China-Pakistan friendship and make new demonstration to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Long live the People's Republic of China!

Chin-Pakistan Dosti Zindabad!