COVID-19 is a common challenge faced by mankind, and only solidarity and cooperation can defeat it.

International society is looking forward to an early control of the virus in the US, as US President Joe Biden recently unveiled the country's national strategy to cope with the pandemic and signed executive orders to mobilize resources and curb the COVID-19 spread.

The world is also expecting the new US administration to enhance solidarity and cooperation with the rest of the world, so as to jointly safeguard global public health security.

The Trump administration shocked the world with its COVID-19 response. It attacked and withdrew from the WHO at a critical moment and undermined global health governance system, played political and stigmatizing games by slandering other countries and shifting responsibilities, and fanned up the so-called "decoupling" in the name of the pandemic, which seriously threatened the security of global industrial and supply chains.

All these racist and protectionist conduct damaged global solidarity and triggered broad criticism. Stephen Walt, professor of international affairs at Harvard University, once criticized the Trump administration for its "belated, self-centered, haphazard, and tone-deaf response" that ended up costing Americans trillions of dollars and thousands of otherwise preventable deaths. What the administration did also "tarnished the US reputation as a country," he said.

The US is going through the darkest hours since the pandemic broke out. Around 70,000 Americans lost their lives because of COVID-19 last December alone. The New York Times recently reported that during some weeks this month, the average deaths per day exceeded 3,300, more than the number of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Facing such a fatal crisis, the Americans hope the new administration can turn the table and enhance cooperation with other countries, so as to play the due role of the country in safeguarding the health of mankind.

In the past, the two countries worked in tandem to cope with global challenges. After the international financial crisis broke out in 2008, coordination between them was believed to be a key factor in stabilizing the market. In 2014, when the Ebola virus emerged in west Africa, the two countries actively responded and made important contributions to an early control of the epidemic.

Today, COVID-19 is posing huge challenges for people's health and lives. As the world's largest two economies, China-US cooperation in fighting COVID-19 conforms to the interests of the two peoples, and is also a common aspiration of the international society.

Former US Under Secretary of State Robert Hormats believes the US administration's initiative on COVID-19 should include cooperation with China. The cooperation between the two countries' researchers and scientists on development and production of therapeutic treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19 not only conforms to the interests of the US, but also can save lives for other countries, he said.

China has always been committed to promoting global solidarity and cooperation in fighting the pandemic. China has offered abundant anti-pandemic materials for the US. It also facilitated the non-governmental cooperation between the two countries to defeat the virus. Between March 1 last year and Jan. 10 this year, China provided, through exports or donation, more than 42 billion masks, 900 million pairs of surgical gloves, 780 million protective suits, 50.66 million pairs of goggles and nearly 16,000 respirators for the US.

China welcomes the Biden administration's decision to halt US withdrawal from the WHO, and has reiterated that it is willing to enhance anti-pandemic cooperation with the US and other countries. The country always believes that only by cooperation can mankind's health be safeguarded, and the victory of the global fight against COVID-19 cannot be achieved until the virus is eliminated in the last country.

If the US can pick up its cooperation spirit, it is conducive to not only enhancing the wellbeing of the two peoples, but also strengthening the global health governance system, which will finally help the world walk out of the shadow of COVID-19 as early as possible.