U.S.-donated masks and protective gear to safeguard against the coronavirus are loaded into planes for transport to Wuhan in early February. (Photo: UPS/State Department)

(CNSNews.com) – As they outlined additional emergency funding to help vulnerable countries deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. officials on Thursday took a sideways swipe at China, and stressed the importance of humanitarian aid coming without strings attached.

“In the battle against coronavirus, we are saving lives, not saving face,” U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick said during a teleconference briefing.

Chinese media outlets and social media feeds have for days been highlighting China’s provision of equipment and supplies to countries in Europe and elsewhere grappling with the pandemic.

Some experts believe Beijing is providing – with great fanfare – assistance to especially European countries hard hit by the pandemic in an effort designed to counter criticism of its own early mishandling of the outbreak that is sweeping the globe after emerging in Wuhan late last year.

In referencing the newly-announced U.S. aid package, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Glick, and James Richardson, director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance Resources, all made a point of saying the U.S. welcomes “no-strings-attached” contributions from other donors to global response effort.

Like the “saving face” remark, that alludes to worries about China’s motives. U.S. officials have long warned that China’s giant international infrastructure program known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) incurs significant costs to partner countries, with Pompeo labeling it “bribe-fueled debt-trap diplomacy.”

But President Trump praised China early Friday morning, tweeting:

Just finished a very good conversation with President Xi of China. Discussed in great detail the CoronaVirus that is ravaging large parts of our Planet. China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the Virus. We are working closely together. Much respect!

The U.S. assistance announced by Pompeo on Thursday includes $110 million in international disaster funds to support dozens of at-risk countries, and a further $64 million to help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees’ pandemic response efforts for some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

U.S.-donated gloves, masks, isolation gowns, and protective goggles ready for distribution in Uzbekistan. (Photo: U.S. Embassy Tashkent)

Together with $100 million announced by Pompeo in early February to help China and other affected countries deal with the outbreak, the new funding takes the U.S. global aid response to $247 million.

Pompeo pointed too to more than $1.5 billion in donations and assistance provided by U.S. businesses, NGOs, and charitable organizations.

“We are truly mobilizing as a nation to confront this deadly virus,” he said. “We welcome continued, no-strings-attached contributions from other donors to further catalyze global response efforts underway.”

‘The Chinese Communist Party has a special responsibility’

While briefing on the aid, Glick and Richardson were asked about the references to “no-strings-attached” contributions, and about the comment about the U.S. “saving lives, not saving face.”

“Are you guys criticizing the aid that China is offering?” a reporter asked. “And what would you say to the European countries who have accepted some of this aid that is badly needed, including medical equipment that’s going from China to Italy?”

“I would just say that the Chinese Communist Party has a special responsibility to provide no-strings-attached assistance around the world and take responsibility for what everyone realizes is the result of the cover-up that happened in Wuhan,” replied Richardson.

“I think every country around the world would be ecstatic and should be to receive high-quality, transparent contributions from every donor around the world. And we would just encourage all donors, but especially China – again, we think that they have a special responsibility in this – to provide that assistance, but it does need to make sure that it is high quality and that it does – is a no-strings-attached.”

“We can’t burden financially difficult countries facing this pandemic in addition to their economic conditions,” he added. “We should not ask them to take on more debt to keep their people healthy.”

Later in the briefing, Richardson was asked about proof that China is attaching conditions to the aid.

Richardson said he was not privy to intelligence but pointed to media reporting on the matter – and to concerns about the BRI.

“Just look at the Belt and Road Initiative writ large,” he said. “I mean, they request mineral rights, they request deep sea access ports, they request loyalty letters from governments. I mean, they request a lot of things in exchange for essentially loans, so it’s not even for grants.”

“If anyone has spent time in the developing world where China is active, you see this happening time and time again.”

Some of the medical goods and equipment China is shipping to Europe and elsewhere are donated by Chinese provinces, hospitals, and the country’s richest man, Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma. Others, however, are being supplied as a commercial transaction.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a briefing in Beijing that Chinese companies have signed contracts to provide epidemic-related goods such as masks, protective suits and testing reagents with more than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe.

“While meeting the domestic demand, we are trying to facilitate the procurement of medical supplies through commercial channels by all countries,” he said. “We have no restrictions on foreign trade, and we support and encourage enterprises to expand exports in an orderly manner.”

Chinese companies had also speedily signed contracts to sell medical supplies to the World Health Organization, Geng said.

“As the situation is getting better at home, China is gradually resuming its normal socio-economic order,” he said.





