TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two German government spokespersons recently avoided mentioning Taiwan, instead thanking “other countries” for supplying masks in the fight against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, reports said Thursday (April 16).

When 1 million face masks from Taiwan arrived at Frankfurt airport on April 9, Member of the European Parliament Michael Gahler posted photos of the event on his Facebook page, thanking Taiwan for its assistance.

However, when Cabinet spokesman Steffen Seibert and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr were confronted with questions from reporters, they failed to name Taiwan as one of the countries helping out, CNA reported.

When a journalist asked whether pressure from China had been responsible for the shortage of comments about Taiwan, Adebahr said she was unaware of any such situation, while Seibert expressed gratitude for “help from other countries,” but added he was unable to say anything about the reporter’s concrete question.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said the island was providing humanitarian assistance in the capacity of a responsible country shouldering its international duties and was not specifically awaiting statements of gratitude.

MOFA pointed out that the German representative office in Taipei had posted its thanks on Facebook. The two countries shared common values such as respect for human rights and therefore maintain a close partnership.