Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Doctors’ Benevolence Contributes to Peace

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Doctors’ Benevolence Contributes to Peace

President Chen Zhu arrived at Kabul in early morning yesterday. He is going to the airport in a little while for the next leg of his trip. In just over a day, Dr. Chen attended ten events, visiting children with congenital heart disease, seeking more understanding of the public health undertakings in Afghanistan and promoting medical cooperation between our two countries. Working day in and day out to screen the diseased, his team had not even the time for meal or sleep in the past few days. Let us express our high respect for them with a warm round of applause.
I would also like to sincerely thank the Afghan Red Crescent Society, Afghan leaders, the First Lady, the Afghan government and people from all walks of life for the high attention and considerate arrangement accorded to Dr. Chen’s visit. Your hospitality is an expression of admiration and respect for President Chen and his team and embodies friendly sentiments towards China and the Chinese people. Friendship, which derives from close contact between the people, holds the key to sound state-to-state relations. China is a country the Afghans feel closest to and Afghanistan is a neighbor the Chinese are most concerned about. Our two peoples have always stood together in mutual help and will always have mutual affinity.
Mr. and Mrs. Chen are both renowned doctors in the world. President Chen went to serve the countryside as an ‘educated urban youth’ and taught himself to be a ‘barefoot doctor’. He is a scientist, a management expert, a social activist and a national leader of China. The benevolent love others. On all those positions, Dr. Chen has remembered well his original inspiration, devoted himself to healing the wounded, rescuing the dying and caring for the vulnerable and always borne in mind health of the ordinary people in China and elsewhere in the world. Out of empathy with the Afghans, he’s been really committed to promoting the joint assistance program between the Red Cross Society of China and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Let us express to him once again our deep respect and appreciation.
The RCSC has carried forwards the tradition of China-Afghanistan medical cooperation by assisting pediatric patients. As early as in the 1970s, when China was still very poor, we did all we can to build the ‘Chinese Hospital’ in Kandahar, which still serves local people in that and other provinces. The Kabul Republic Hospital, another landmark project built with Chinese assistance, treats and helps thousands of Afghans every day. China provides many training opportunities for Afghan health workers and medical devices for Afghan hospitals and clinics. Every year some best Afghan students go to study medical science in China with Chinese government scholarships. Several of them including Mr. Javid Safi, the CEO of Afghanistan Cancer Foundation, are also attending today’s reception. Now they are backbones of their organization in Afghanistan. They are planing to establish an Afghan Chinese Student Association. Wish them all good luck.
Let me introduce a Chinese doctor named Ji Peng, who is present today. He created in Kabul the first Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Afghanistan, receiving over twenty outpatients every day. Dr. Ji went to Mazar-e-Sharif by himself, helping many patients with rheumatic diseases. Two delicate Chinese ladies must also be recognized here: Ms. Zou Wei and Ms. An Nan. They joined the Doctors Without Borders and went into remote mountainous regions and war-torn areas in Khost Province to help people there. These two ladies work busily in places of conflicts. Let me quote them directly here: ‘We are deeply moved by the simple and friendly local people. Our patients are gentle and polite. Our colleagues are enthusiastic and studious.’ ‘We are deeply distressed by the difficult situation ordinary Afghans are in. We try our best to help them enjoy health and happiness.’
Many Afghan friends praise highly traditional Chinese medicine, which embodies two core values. The first is benevolence, i.e., being selfless and fearless and treating patients with love, compassion and sincerity. The other is harmony, i.e., taking world peace and harmony as well as people’s health and well-being as a person’s greatest ideal and source of happiness and pursuing unity between man and nature, harmony between the self and the other, and balance between yin and yang. As such the therapeutic approach focuses very much on harmonization and moderation. This year will be critical for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. We sincerely hope that the spirit of benevolence and harmony carried forward by President Chen and other Chinese health workers will assist the Afghan people in realizing the dream of peace.
A week ago, the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was successfully closed in Beijing. Afghanistan was also represented at the grand gathering devoted to developing a community of shared future for mankind. At the forum, Chinese President Xi stressed that the people-centered Belt and Road Initiative focuses on poverty alleviation, job creation and improvement of people’s livelihood for people of all countries to benefit from the results. The ‘Silk Road of Health’ and medical and health cooperation constitute an important part of the China-Afghanistan BRI collaboration. With China’s development and advancement of the BRI, the Afghan people will enjoy more attention and help from China and the rest of the international community in health. The Chinese Embassy stands ready to go for it with all our strength.
Thank you.
Wish all of you good heath forever.

Liu Jinsong is the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Afghanistan

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