Covid-19 infected more than 950,000 people and the death toll is reaching 50,000 worldwide, meaning that it is only a matter of time for the total cases to surpass one million people.
Developed countries of the West are facing shortages of medical supplies such as coronavirus testing kits, protective gears and ventilators due to the fact that confirmed number of cases and fatalities in the United States, Italy and Spain surpassed China tally respectively.
In the meantime, the initial epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak China, which is now hailing its major victory over the novel coronavirus outbreak, already started an operation to provide assistance to other countries facing the outbreak.
The Chinese government donated testing kits for coronavirus, masks, ventilators and even doctors to coronavirus-hit Italy and France, and promises to assist Spain and many other countries as well.
Least developed and developing nations of Africa and Asia were not excluded from China’s “benevolence”. A Chinese shoemaker The Huajian Group sending hundreds of cases of medical equipment to Ethiopia, a member state of the ITTLLDC, all at its own expense is only a fragment of the massive donations sent to the country from China.
The reason why China is donating tens of thousands of test kits, protective kits and other medical equipment to this landlocked African nation is because the African Union as well as the African Union’s Centres for Disease Control and Preventions is headquartered in Ethiopia. It has been reported that the African Union already received 2,000 test kits from the Chinese government and expects another 10,000 kits and other medical supplies so that Ethiopia can continue distributing the donations to other African States.
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma—who is playing the role of the coronavirus ambassador for China that seeks to revise the global narrative around the Covid-19 pandemic—promised to donate whopping amounts of medical equipment to each of the 54 African states.
Furthermore, the founder of Alibaba pledged to send emergency supplies to Asian nations namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Jack Ma’s promise is already starting to get fulfilled, for instance, Mongolia received a donation of 500,000 N95 masks from the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation on March 31.
Meanwhile, journalist Elisabeth Braw considers that China’s aid has ulterior motives that eventually will expect something in return besides using the massive assistance as a public relations opportunity.
China and the USA, the trade war adversaries, have been playing a Covid-19 blame game against each other which makes it understandable why there would be such precautious opinions as Braw’s.
China is positioning itself as the main benefactor to the global community in the fight against the novel coronavirus, and the United States definitely would not want to lose this title to its main rival.
For example, the United States government’s commitment to donate $1.2 million to the Mongolian government to support the latter’s combat against Covid-19 perhaps indicates the United States’ desire to not lose face against China.
At the end of the day, Covid-19 is also becoming a platform for a power struggle between the two global superpowers.
Although it would be better if the United States and China can work together in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, least developed and developing countries in need of assistance seem to be the ones that gain from this rivalry as they are receiving the necessary aid and donations to fight against the pandemic.
By Mr. B.Enkhmunkh
Researcher
International Think Tank for LLDCs