CHONGQING — The first China-Europe freight train route, the Yuxinou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) railway, celebrates its 10-year anniversary on March 19. Over the past decade, the freight train service has borne solid testimony to the benefits of China's vision — building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The vision embodies the ideas of building an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.

Incorporating Chinese wisdom, it answers the question of how the international community could build a community with a shared future for mankind.

In the interests of a shared future, the freight trains became the "passage of life" for countries fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, when global anti-epidemic supplies were in shortage, international parcels piled up and the China-Europe trade was hampered due to supply chain disruptions.

The freight train service was the main channel to deliver the anti-epidemic and life necessities in urgent need to European countries. In 2020, the China-Europe freight train service transported 9.39 million pieces of anti-epidemic supplies, weighing 76,000 tonnes, to countries including Italy, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic and Poland.

The achievement that came at such a critical time speaks volumes about the efficient, wide-coverage and all-weather advantages of China-Europe freight trains. A mere 17 trips were made in 2011, but trip numbers topped 10,000 in 2020. Now China has launched the China-Europe freight train service from over 60 domestic cities to major European countries.

The trend-bucking expansion of the freight train service is an epitome of the irreversible trend of economic globalization and the intertwined interests between countries. It is a potent demonstration showing how economic globalization can power global growth, facilitate the movement of goods and capital and promote interactions among peoples, especially at a time when the international community is faced with changes rare in a century.

As two major economies of the world, China and the European Union (EU) play important roles in protecting the stability of the global industrial and supply chains, as well as global development and prosperity in the post-epidemic era. Last year, China became the largest trading partner for the EU for the first time, demonstrating the resilience and vitality in China-EU economic and trade cooperation and injecting new impetus into regional cooperation.

Such cooperation is not an expediency, but a strategic choice aimed at mutual benefit. History tells us that China and Europe share broad common interests. The two parties, as the example of China-Europe freight trains have shown, are partners, not systemic rivals. Win-win cooperation is the main thrust of their relationship.

Longing for the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind to come true, China will continue to safeguard multilateralism, contribute to an open world economy and facilitate the revival of China-Europe trade and world economy.