A common dream of multilateralism

Editor's note : Dr. Yasir Mahmoud, a Sudanese national, is an international training expert at the China University of Petroleum, Beijing. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

I certainly believe that people all over the world are sincerely praying for each other, especially for people of the countries that are currently fighting a fierce battle against the COVID-10 pandemic, such as Italy, Spain and the U.S.

We are praying that they win the fight against coronavirus as soon as possible. I hope all people could stay united and respond positively during this common crisis.

In addition, I'd like to take this opportunity to present to the public some of my personal experiences and feelings which can cheer on people worldwide.

During the SARS epidemic in 2003, I stayed in Beijing with some overseas students. Although the international office (foreign affairs office) of the university where I was studying, had provided us with flight tickets to go back home, we decided not to leave and stayed with Chinese students, showing solidarity with all people in China and offering them adequate moral support.

During that hard period, we mainly stayed at our apartment and learned about specific measures to prevent SARS infection, helped the university's foreign affairs office to translate the knowledge of SARS prevention and control using mobile SMS (there was no social media such as WeChat back then), and forward it to foreigners in China on time. We did these duties because we believe that in an increasingly powerful nation, any difficulties could be overcome by teamwork that may be regarded as a starting step towards multilateralism.

A signboard conveying support to China in fighting the coronavirus outbreak at a store in Tokyo, Japan, February 11, 2020. /Xinhua

It's been 17 years since SARS, and exactly at the Spring Festival reunion of 2020, a new virus outbreak even more widespread than SARS took place. Once again, I decided to stay.

One of the reasons is that I wanted to do something meaningful with my foreign friends here for our beloved second home – China.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, I and some of my foreign friends have been undertaking training work at the "national emergency management training center" on preventing the spread of the virus. We fully support the work arrangements for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that China not only will win this battle to safeguard all its residents, but also will become stronger in the future.

Moreover, as a foreigner who has lived in Beijing for about 20 years, I have no doubt that the Chinese people will definitely overcome this war-like epidemic with minimal losses. Among the lessons that we have learned is that the encouraging slogan "Wuhan jiayou, China jiayou!", which has once again made us realize that the Chinese people are a good example of a united nation and that, in turn, makes them able to overcome all difficulties.

Such hard times will not last forever. It will be managed with the help of many genuine friends around the world, and in turn become encouraging news to them.

Finally, on the back of Martin Luther King's famous words regarding a dream, we the people of the world may wish to have a dream of our own today. Let us talk about such a dream, loudly, to all everywhere; we are really in need of a dream of the 21st century that requires our solidarity, our collective ideas and our brilliance.

A dream that can take our village, one world one universe, in the new century to face the difficulties of today and tomorrow; a common dream of multilateralism that may start with daunting challenges but end up with a win-win outcome as we team up and work hard with perseverance.

(CGTN)