Taiwan Donates One Million Face Masks to Help Protect Indian Medical Personnel Combat COVID-19 Pandemic
The masks were brought to India by a special chartered flight on 4 May 2020.
By IAR Desk
In April and May 2020 Taiwan launched its first large-scale humanitarian assistance initiative in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
So far, Taiwan has donated a total of 25.5 million face masks and other medical supplies to the most needy countries, including the United States, European Union member states, other European nations, diplomatic allies, 18 countries across Indo-Pacific and some African and Mideast countries. This timely donation will support medical care workers in containing the spread of COVID-19 around the world.
Since 25 March 2020, the Government of India has imposed a nation-wide lockdown as part of its measures to battle Covid-19 pandemic. In the spirit of “Taiwan can help! And Taiwan is helping” and calling for greater international cooperation, the Government of Taiwan decided to provide one million face masks to India to help protect frontline medical personnel.
The masks were brought to India by a special chartered flight on 4 May 2020. Ambassador Chung-Kwang Tien of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India handed over these masks to Neel Kamal Singh, Deputy Secretary-General of Indian Red Cross Society, at a ceremony on Friday, 8 May 2020.
Ambassador Tien pointed out that the virus respects no national boundary, neither races and gender, therefore the assistance and help should not be limited by nations, races, or genders. Taiwan has shown to the world that due to the preemptive preparations and measures it took, implementing the right policy, establishing trust by the people towards the Government and due to the lessons learned after the 2003 SARS, it has been recognized and praised greatly by international communities and countries for its successful fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan is greatly interested in sharing her experiences as well as the PPE material such as masks with all the countries in need.
Amb. Tien Also complimented Indian Government for the extraordinary effortsit has taken to curtail the spread of COVID-19. He also conveyed Taiwan’s concern and best wishes to the Government and people of India.
Highlighting India as an important and valued partner to Taiwan, Amb. Tien expressed strong confidence that India will prevail over the challenges and restore momentum and economic growth. The ambassador also underscored that the Government of Taiwan would continue to evaluate the evolution of the pandemic, its domestic demand, and situations of friendly countries to make further timely contribution to the international community.
On behalf of 30 million members of the Indian Red Cross Society and people of India, Deputy Secretary-General Singh commended Taiwan for setting a norm in epidemic prevention and containing. He expressed deep appreciation for Taiwan’s timely donation and guaranteed that the Indian Red Cross Society would properly allocate the masks to frontline medical personnel to help protect them while combating the pandemic.
