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Businesses aid Wuhan airlift

By ZHAO HUANXIN in Washington | China Daily Global | Updated: 2020-02-15 02:58
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Medical supplies, including 2 million masks, donated by United States, will be shipped to China late on Thursday, Jacob Parker, senior vice-president of the US-China Business Council said at a news conference on Thursday. [Photo by Zhao Huanxin / China Daily]

The US private sector is airlifting medical supplies, including 2 million masks, to Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, to support China's efforts to combat the epidemic, the US-China Business Council (USCBC) said Thursday.

"Recognizing this fundamental need for medical supplies in China, the US-China Business Council along with the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR) and the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations coordinated an effort to identify medical masks globally that could be donated to China," said Jacob Parker, senior vice-president of the USCBC, at a news conference.

Masks are difficult to acquire because of unprecedented demand, but a reliable supply was identified by the Bush Foundation through its newly established and rapidly growing US-China Coronavirus Action Network (US-China CAN), and representatives of the business organizations swiftly arranged for purchase and transport, according to a statement from the USCBC.

Parker said the masks were produced in a facility in Mexico and had been shipped to the US before they were scheduled to fly by FedEx to China late Thursday.

Most of the donated goods on the flight will be rushed to Wuhan hospitals with support from the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the China Charity Federation, he said.

As Chinese health authorities changed their threshold for diagnosis, Hubei, the hard-hit Central China province where Wuhan is located, reported 14,840 new coronavirus cases and 242 new deaths by midnight Wednesday, bringing the total fatalities in the province to 1,310, the provincial health commission said Thursday.

"I think the coronavirus is not an inflection point for companies to shift their supply chains," Parker said. "It's just an indication that overreliance on any one market is risky to any globalized business."

USCBC President Craig Allen said that there had been "no indication of the member companies leaving China at all".

"Rather, many companies are increasing their investments in the country," Allen said.

USCBC members have contributed millions of dollars in medical supplies, many of them to hospitals in Wuhan, according to Allen.

"This is the time to demonstrate our shared humanity and dedication to the common good," said Allen. "We want to help and to honor the courageous healthcare workers throughout China."

Recalling the NCUSCR's hosting of the Chinese table tennis team in 1972, Steve Orlins, president of the NCUSCR, said, "During this crisis we are gratified to be able to continue this great tradition by helping to provide urgently needed medical supplies to the Chinese people."

USCBC Chair Evan Greenberg, who is also vice-chair of the NCUSCR and the chief executive officer of insurance giant Chubb, said the US private sector stands with and supports the Chinese people "at this critical moment".

Greenberg expressed thanks to FedEx for donating air transportation for the relief supplies and to Walmart for helping to obtain the goods.

The donation is just one example of the many efforts undertaken by the US private sector to assist China in combating the coronavirus, he said, according to a press release by the USCBC.

"We are honored and deeply gratified to be one of the organizers of this humanitarian action, a powerful gesture of American friendship and goodwill toward China at this challenging moment," said David Firestein, the inaugural president and chief executive officer of the Bush Foundation for US-China Relations.

"Our foundation stands ready to do all in our power to help our Chinese friends fight and defeat this virus," he said.

The USCBC represents about 200 US companies doing business in China, most of which are in the Fortune 500.

Slightly more than three quarters of these companies have viewed the US-China phase one trade agreement in a positive light, believing that the deal stabilizes the bilateral relationship and prevents imminent imposition of new tariffs, according to a survey the USCBC released Thursday.

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