Xiplomacy: China, Algeria mark anniversary of ties with eyes on stronger partnership

EXPANDING COOPERATION

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of China sending its first medical team to Algeria. Over the last six decades, 3,522 Chinese medical workers have been sent to Algeria, treating over 27 million people and delivering over 2.07 million babies. "This is a monument to the China-Algeria friendship," Xi told Tebboune in their meeting.

The first medical team, dispatched by Beijing to help other countries, was sent to Algeria. After its independence, Algeria faced problems such as the withdrawal of foreign doctors and a shortage of medical supplies. In April 1963, at the request of the Algerian side, a Chinese medical team arrived in Saida, Algeria, and their service is ongoing.

Saida is a small town in northern Africa adjacent to the Sahara Desert. It has a dry, hot climate, with occasional sandstorms, and is known as the "gate to the desert."

When the Chinese team arrived, there was only one local doctor and one nurse, and the ward did not even have an electrocardiogram machine.

Under such difficult conditions, Chinese medical team members did their best to save the dying and heal the wounded. Nowadays, local people greet Chinese doctors and offer them shopping discounts as a gesture of gratitude and recognition.

China will work more closely with Algeria on healthcare, continue to provide government scholarships to Algeria, and promote friendly cooperation in media, tourism, youth, sports and think tanks to cement public support for bilateral ties, President Xi said.

For Debeche, also a professor of political sciences and international relations at the University of Algiers, the friendly and fruitful relations between Beijing and Algiers "would serve as a model not only for African countries but also for the Arab world as a whole."