Radio France International (March 29, 2020) and Global News (March 31, 2020) published reports that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been conducting a “mask diplomacy.” It is making itself a world leader by supplying “friendly” countries with medical supplies. However, the poor quality of the products and sometimes even the fake products that China has provided to the world has caused its attempt to backfire. On March 27, Fahrettin Koca, Turkey’s Health Minister said that China’s testing kits were only 30 to 35 percent accurate; Turkey could not put the kits in use. On March 28, Maria Rosario Vergeire, the Philippine’s Deputy Health Minister stated at a news conference that some China-made coronavirus testing kits were only 40 percent accurate. The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines announced the next day that, after verification, China’s testing kits did not have a quality problem. Vergeire said that it was another Chinese brand, which a private foundation had donated, that had quality problems. Malaysian officials said that, to avoid falling into the same trap as Spain (bought Chinese medical supplies but found out later that they couldn’t be used due to severe quality problems), they would not order from China. Global News reported that Chinese-made “N95” respiratory masks, which were a counterfeit copy of the Valpro Ranger brand, were advertised on the Midas Safety country websites in China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, as well as on the Valpro Safety website in the United Arab Emirates. Midas Safety said the masks were mistakenly placed on the websites by a web administrator and subsequently removed from the websites after they were informed about it being a fake product.
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