China’s ‘Donation Diplomacy’ Raises Tensions With U.S.

Jacob Parker, the senior vice president at the U.S.-China Business Council, said the restrictions were “the top issue for some of the biggest companies in the world.”

“It is a good intentioned policy that has a variety of unintended consequences across a variety of areas,” he said. “It remains a big issue for our members.”

Zhao Lijian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Friday that Beijing would work with other nations “to safeguard international public health security.” The country exported more than $1.4 billion of pandemic supplies from March 1 to April 4, he said, and scores of countries had signed contracts.

However, many of the shipments are part of regular, long-term commercial arrangements between non-Chinese companies like 3M and factories or contractors in China.

The State Department appears determined to compete with China on publicity over aid. Its website says it has given nearly $500 million in foreign aid to help with the pandemic. Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a call with reporters in Europe that “there is no country in the world that will provide as much aid and assistance through multiple forms as the United States of America will.”

One new rule in China dictates that supplies heading to the United States must have approval not just from the Food and Drug Administration, but now also from China’s National Medical Products Administration, which many importers do not have.

The regulations have threatened to disrupt ventilator supply chains for companies like General Electric and have impeded shipments of masks managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to people familiar with the matter. This week, a plane bound for Massachusetts took off with less than half of the 10 million masks it was supposed to carry. Several major makers of virus tests have struggled, too. One, PerkinElmer, has had a large shipment delayed for days, the people said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/us/politics/coronavirus-china-trump-donation.html