Xi sets course for safeguarding common treasures of humanity

"We see China as a major actor in the international scene to help countries and sites in need," said Mechtild Rossler, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, noting that many of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites are in imminent danger, while some other uninscribed ones remain underrepresented.

For these sites, "we need to do capacity building, we need to enhance protection globally, and I think China can play its role" in this regard, Rossler said.

Xi's letter illustrates that China attaches great importance to world cultural and natural heritage protection, said Lyazid Benhami, vice president of the Paris Association of French-Chinese Friendship.

China's endeavor to protect and restore the heritage provides other countries with positive experiences, Benhami added.

China has helped Nepal to restore the nine-storey Basantapur temple complex in the Kathmandu Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was badly damaged in an earthquake in 2015, making valuable contributions to the rescue and protection of the world heritage, said Madan Kumar Rimal, head of the Nepalese History, Culture and Archaeology Department at Nepal's Tribhuvan University.

Long Ponnasirivath, secretary of state and spokesman of the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said China has taken strong measures to protect the world heritage, gaining recognition internationally, and Cambodia wishes to draw more experience from China in this field.