Chinese assistance aids battle in the US

A list of initial donations to New York state from major corporations, philanthropic organizations and celebrities was announced by the governor on his website on March 26. The list shows that Chinese technology giant Huawei donated 10,000 N95 masks, 20,000 protective gowns, 50,000 medical goggles and 10,000 protective gloves.

In the middle of last month, hours after Trump declared a national emergency to free up $50 billion in federal resources to combat the virus, billionaire Alibaba founder Jack Ma offered to donate 1 million masks and 500,000 coronavirus testing kits to the US.

Responding to Ma's donations, YouTube user Nathalie Zhu said China had been the subject of racism and hatred, but had reacted with love and kindness.

On March 29, a planeload of desperately needed medical supplies arrived in New York from Shanghai, the first in a series of flights organized by the White House over the coming weeks to help fight the virus. The plane carried 130,000 N95 face masks, nearly 1.8 million surgical masks and gowns, more than 10.3 million protective gloves and over 70,000 thermometers, media reports said.

Yanzhong Huang, from the Council on Foreign Relations, said that when the pandemic ends, China and the US could, for example, build a global health security fund to prepare for the next outbreak, or to support capacity-building in other countries.

"They could also collaborate with each other in the development of medical countermeasures, price management, disease surveillance and response. There are many areas for the two (countries) to work with each other," he said.

Xinhua exclusively for China Daily