Beijing to provide 1.1 million masks to Seoul

Boxes of face masks provided by the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to help patients with symptoms of the COVID-19 are stacked in a building of the Ministry of Education's National Education Training Institute complex in Daegu, March 2. The embassy said Saturday that the Chinese government will provide about 1.1 million masks to Korea to help the country fight the COVID-19 spread. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

China will provide face masks and anti-contamination suits to Korea to help it fight the coronavirus epidemic, according to the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, Saturday.

The embassy said Chinese Ambassador to Seoul Xing Haiming met with Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Kim Gunn, Friday, and delivered his government's message.

“Ambassador Xing told Deputy Minister Kim that Beijing will provide 100,000 N95 masks, 1 million surgical masks and 10,000 medical anti-contamination suits and, if needed, 50,000 diagnostic kits, to support the Korean government and citizens in dealing with the COVID-19 spread,” a statement by the Chinese Embassy said.

It said Xing expressed gratitude for the Korean government's previous support and aid when the COVID-19 situation became severe in China. “Xing said China is willing to upgrade the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries by carrying out agreements made between the leaders of the two nations and reinforcing cooperation.”

Kim expressed gratitude for China's support and said he believes mutual support will help Korea and China win their battle against COVID-19, the statement read.

According to media reports citing a Chinese Embassy official, some of the face masks sent by China have already arrived in Korea, while the embassy is seeking to have all other items delivered as soon as possible.

The embassy's announcement came after China's Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said Thursday that China would offer medical supplies to contain COVID-19 to countries in urgent need, including Korea, Iraq, Cambodia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Ma also told reporters that China hopes to provide all the support that Korea needs and some Chinese regions and businesses have already provided or plan to provide medical supplies to Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, which have reported the highest number of confirmed infections here.

Last week, a group of Chinese companies from Jiangsu Province donated relief supplies including 10,000 anti-contamination suits, 10,000 medical masks and 2,000 bottles of disinfectant to Korea's Red Cross.

“We will never forget the help Korea provided for us in combating COVID-19. And we now reciprocate with friendship and sincerity to jointly fight the epidemic,” Han Fangming, chairman of the Charhar Institute, a think-tank based in Beijing which coordinated the Chinese companies' donation, was quoted as saying by CGTN.

Earlier in late January, the Korean government announced its plan to provide medical equipment worth $5 million as emergency assistance to China to help the country combat the coronavirus.