![]() More often, however, China has been on the offensive, in line with an aggressive new foreign policy stance President Xi promoted in a memo last year, which urged diplomats to display more “fighting spirit,” sources told Reuters. Many other Chinese companies with overseas operations reportedly received similar directives. ordered employees in 20 countries to bulk-buy face masks to send home, reports Bloomberg, with scant regard for local needs. In February, China’s state-controlled oil explorer PetroChina Co. Already, China was on the backfoot after reports of hoarding medical supplies early on in the crisis. In an attempt to mitigate the fallout, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in the future exporters of medical masks, thermometers, protective clothing, testing kits and ventilators must be both certified in China and comply with the standards of the importing nation. “The first of 22 scheduled flights to help slow the spread of #Covid_19 in the #US,” said the state-run China Daily in a tweet. On Tuesday, as rows of field hospitals were being built to treat COVID-19 patients in New York City’s Central Park, a plane load of medical supplies arrived in the city from China. In turn, Beijing has sought to boost its soft power by recasting itself from source of the deadly pandemic to the provider of much-needed aid and expertise. The Trump Administration has obfuscated its torpid response to the crisis by repeating concerns over China’s official figures. In the spiraling relations between China and the West, even the COVID-19 crisis is an opportunity to score points-and no opportunity can be wasted. 25 and banned recent visitors to China from the U.S. In response, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswomen Hua Chunying told a regular press conference Tuesday that the world should ignore the “endless, immoral slanders” of “several politicians who are habitual liars.” She highlighted that Washington shut its Wuhan consulate on Jan. On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence echoed other senior administration figures when he told CNN, “The reality is that we could’ve been better off if China had been more forthcoming” about the virus.
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