In May this year, giant panda Wu Wen on loan to the Netherlands gave birth to a cub. President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan recently exchanged congratulatory letters with Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima on this festive occasion.

In their congratulatory letter, Xi and Peng hailed the cub as a beautiful fruition of China-Netherlands friendship and at the same time an important achievement in the bilateral cooperation for maintaining biodiversity. It is truly something worth celebrating. Since COVID-19 began to strike, the governments and people of China and the Netherlands have stood together and extended each other a helping hand. Heart-warming stories have been recorded about the friendship, partnership and mutual assistance between the two sides. Stressing that China sets great store by growing its relations with the Netherlands, they called for the two sides to work together to turn challenges into opportunities, and achieve parallel progress on both COVID-19 containment and bilateral exchanges and cooperation. This way, the bilateral ties will be brought to a new high.

The Dutch King and Queen expressed their joy at the birth of the panda cub in their congratulatory letter. They emphasized that this new life symbolizes the fruitful relationship between the Netherlands and China and contributes to the preservation of the world's biodiversity. They highlighted the importance the Netherlands attaches to the cooperation between the two countries to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. It is only by working together that countries around the world can overcome this global crisis. They expressed the Dutch government's readiness to work with China in tackling the impact of this pandemic, trusting that the solid bilateral ties will allow for a speedy resumption of bilateral visits and normal activities.