Chinese Tycoons' Mask Diplomacy in the US... Acting as Firefighters in China-US Relations

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] Chinese conglomerates are being evaluated as having a positive impact on the frozen U.S.-China relations by supporting the severely affected United States with medical supplies such as masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 6th, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, and Joe Tsai, co-founder of Alibaba and owner of the NBA Brooklyn Nets, donated 2.3 million masks, 2,000 ventilators, and 170,000 medical goggles to New York. SCMP stated that this is the largest scale among civilian donations.

SCMP noted that the donations by Chinese entrepreneurs took place amid escalating emotional conflicts between the U.S. and China over the spread of COVID-19. It evaluated that private-sector donations are playing a positive role in thawing the frozen relations between the two countries.

As verbal disputes between senior officials of both countries have intensified over the origin of COVID-19 and the right and wrong of the response process, U.S.-China relations are creaking as much as during the trade war. When Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of deliberately hiding and manipulating the COVID-19 situation, Hua Chunying, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sharply rebutted for about nine minutes at a regular press conference held on the 2nd, deepening the emotional rift between the two countries.

An anonymous source said, "Since Secretary Pompeo referred to COVID-19 as the 'Wuhan Virus,' the process of sending relief supplies from China to the U.S. has become ten times more difficult," explaining that donations from Chinese conglomerates to the U.S. were a challenging task that had to overcome export-import regulatory obstacles.

The United States, where confirmed cases are rapidly increasing and shortages of medical supplies, equipment, and personnel are serious, expressed gratitude and responded to the donations from Chinese conglomerates. U.S. President Donald Trump called Jack Ma and Joe Tsai "my friends" and expressed thanks for the generous gifts. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also expressed gratitude, calling the support of medical supplies "really good news."

Alfred Wu, assistant professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, said, "It is very clear what China intends to do with mask diplomacy, but considering the current situation in New York, it does not matter whether the medical supplies were provided through the government or individuals, or which country supported them."