Medical masks. /VCG
Editor's note: Hannan Hussain is a security analyst at the London School of Economics - South Asia Centre, and an author. The article reflects the author's opinions, not necessarily the views of CGTN.
Last week, Ottawa claimed that one million China-manufactured KN95 face masks had fallen short of federal COVID-19 standards. "The agency is conducting its due diligence on products procured by [Public Services and Procurement], verifying the quality of procured and donated supplies upon receipt," said Eric Morrissette, spokesman for the Department of Health and Canada's Public Health Agency.
These reservations were met with prompt assurance from the Chinese embassyin Canada. "China attaches high importance to export quality control and the competent departments have recently rolled out more rigorous regulative measures",
assured
the Chinese Embassy.
"If individual problems happened in the process of anti-epidemic cooperation, it should be resolved in a practical and realistic manner rather than being interpreted politically.”
It is significant to point out that both parties saw zero value in politicizing the matter. Yet select Western news outlets, driven by their penchant for anti-Chinese sentiment, attempted to draw a wedge between two powerful allies. Leading the effort is The New York Post, a U.S.-based publication, which ran a sensational propaganda piecetitled "Canada rejects onemillion non-compliant masks from China.”
The article attempts to make the false case that Beijing, out of some mysterious desperation to downplay Ottawa's COVID-19 fight, is sending millions of masks across without proper export controls.
What it refuses to mention is the fact that the Canadian health authorities never once made the case for rejection: they were temporarily delaying the distribution of KN95 masks to provinces and territories, since the investigation was already taking its course.
Moreover, Canadian health authorities say that they were carrying out an "assessment" of these masks for use in non-health care settings – which is synonymous to the probe launched by the Chinese Embassyto jointly assess (with Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Public Health Agency) about the nature of the claims put forth.
A medical worker inputs testing information at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing center in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, April 23, 2020. /Xinhua
As a testament to quality control and medical equipment fast-tracking, China has been easing requirementsthat demand domestic regulatory approval prior to the export of virus care products. These measures serve as circumstantial additions to previously existing quality controls, that helped ensure that the core criteria for distributorsis to meet the health standards of importing countries at all costs.
Li Xinqian, an official at China's commerce ministry, confirmed to Reutersthat products with overseas approval or registration will be allowed for export, only after relevant verification by a trade group authorized by the ministry itself.
This customized approach to upholding the regulatory standards of a destination country is a long-standing hallmark of China's cooperation with COVID-19 affected nations, especially when it proactively acknowledges nations' quest for fast, reliable and wide-ranging medical equipment access.
All of these hallmarks appear conveniently absent from the New York Post article – a piece that triggered a propaganda streak in a series of other smaller conservative papers, including The Post Millennial.
In terms of the latter, Barrett Wilson, a senior editorof The Post Millennial, allegedthat Prime Minister Trudeau's government has rejected one million "faulty masks from China" – whileoffering no shred of proof to back this wild conjecture.
Most malicious of all is the writer's pitch to the readers that the purpose of the on-going investigation is to determine whether so-called faulty masks were having an adverse effect on Canadian workers' exposure to the virus.
This particular claim stems from a broader misguided report which allegedthat 60,000 faulty surgical masks – blamed on China – were recalled by Toronto's city authorities. Later, Toronto city authorities confirmedthat a "misunderstanding" between the city and its vendors had prompted speculation.
The Chinese Embassy has already offered a
comprehensive statement on the issue
, with numerous tangible insights on why the media should adhere to factual reporting: "After preliminary investigations by relevant Chinese authorities, we find that these countries mismatched or misused the masks. We suggest that the media should clarify the facts first before reporting.”
Other prominent U.S. media outlets, such as POLITICO, have tried subtle maneuvers to pit Ottawa against Beijing. Consider the fact that reporter Maura Forrest asked Canada's Procurement Minister Anita Anand about which medical supplies [from China] were causing the biggest headache for her procurement officials.
Anand replied that her team was "actively managing" all major equipment – from N95 respirators to surgical masks – confirming that none of such "headaches" existed. The broader point: these insecurities are of America's own making.
Ottawa's decades-long rapport with Beijing needs no introduction either. Canada has routinely called upon China to help facilitate medical supplies through various channels in the country.
About 10 flights have arrived in Canada from China of recent, and plans to commence a forthcoming daily flight for medical suppliesare well underway.
Beijing's unflinching commitment to Canada's COVID-19 fight is evidenced by a seventy percent supply of Canada's total medical supplies worldwide. This is what true cooperation looks like.
In a nutshell, Ottawa and Beijing to ramp up bilateral and international COVID-19 collaborations makes sure that no amount of political scheming or media maneuvering can ever cast a shadow on China-Canada COVID-19 cooperation.
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