Peng Liyuan, the wife of President Xi Jinping, has expressed appreciation to a group of Sri Lankan students for their support for China's fight against novel coronavirus pneumonia and encouraged them to further contribute to China-Sri Lanka friendship.

She made the remarks in a reply letter on Monday to students from Devi Balika Vidyalaya, a girls' school in Sri Lanka, from where 43 students wrote to Peng and sent her paintings showing their support for China's fight against the epidemic.

Peng told the students that their letter and paintings had been received at a special moment when China is fighting the outbreak.

The paintings are very good and demonstrate the sincere friendship of the Sri Lankan people with the Chinese people, Peng said, adding that she and Xi like the students' paintings very much.

She said that since the start of the outbreak, Sri Lankan people from all walks of life have spontaneously held activities to send best wishes to China, expressing their care and support.

At present, China, with its people united as one, is making all-out efforts to combat the epidemic, Peng said, adding that the prevention and control efforts are yielding positive results.

China has the confidence, capacity and certainty to prevail over the epidemic, she said.

Noting that China and Sri Lanka have a long history of friendship, she added that she hopes the Sri Lankan students will study hard and become young envoys for promoting bilateral ties.

As of Monday, 62 countries and seven international organizations had pledged epidemic prevention and control supplies to China, and supplies from 46 countries and six international organizations had arrived, according to the Foreign Ministry.

China Daily - Xinhua