China steps up support for European countries hardest hit by coronavirus
- President Xi Jinping has spoken to the leaders of the two most affected European countries, Italy and Spain, and promised medical supplies
- In contrast to the offer to help Europe, Beijing’s relationship with the US is deteriorating further during the pandemic
China is strengthening its engagement with European nations hit by the Covid-19 outbreak even as its relations with the US hit a new low over the crisis – and it is treating individual countries with a higher level of protocol than the European Union itself.
On Wednesday, China agreed to help the EU with “immediate shipments” of 2 million surgical masks, 200,000 N95 masks and 500,000 testing kits – but the amount stopped short of the 5 million surgical masks it gave Italy, which has seen the world's worst outbreak after China.
“China has not forgotten that in January … the European Union helped,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter on Wednesday. “Today, we are the center of the coronavirus outbreak pandemic, and we need protective equipment ourselves. We are ramping up our production, we are converting new production lines, but this needs several weeks.
“And in the meantime, we are grateful for support from China,” von der Leyen said, after a phone call with Premier Li Keqiang.
The fact that Li announced the support for the EU marks a diplomatic difference from how China treated Italy and Spain, the two European countries hit worst by the outbreak.