In the early stages, when the outbreak was only in China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mobilized many companies to buy up the medical supplies from around the world. As the result, other countries had very few supplies left when the pandemic outbreak expanded. China imported at least 2 billion face masks and 25.4 million items of protective clothing from all over the world.
#1: According to China’s Customs report, from January 24 to February 2, China imported a total of 94,000 batches of epidemic prevention and control materials, of total of 240 million pieces with a net worth of 810 million yuan (US $114 million). Among them, protective equipment accounted for 74.9 percent, with 230 million pieces and 610 million yuan. It included 220 million face masks, 2.5 million pieces of protective clothing, and 279,000 pairs of goggles.
#2: According to China’s Customs report, from January 24 to February 29, China imported 2.46 billion pieces of epidemic prevention and control materials, with a net worth of 8.21 billion yuan (US $1.16 billion). The protective equipment included a count of 2.4 billion pieces, including 2 billion face masks and 25.4 million protective clothing.
#3: The CCP mobilized many Chinese companies to perform these global purchases. On January 31, Xinhua reported that Fosun International, Alibaba, Suning and many other companies have opened up overseas channels for global procurement.
It also stated that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it will do its utmost to promote the resumption of production, while encouraging enterprises to expand international procurement to meet domestic demand.
#4: China Poly Group, the state-owned enterprises for internal sales of arms and defense products, was also involved. It used its connections to coordinate the shipping of medical supplies to China. Poly International Development Limited mobilized its employees to conduct procurement globally. Several hundred employees, in seven cities in three countries including Australia, worked on sourcing supplies.
#5: The Sidney Morning Herald reported that Greenland Group, a Shanghai government owned company, whose focus in Sydney and Melbourne was real estate business, totally stopped its business and instructed all of its employees on “sourcing bulk supplies of surgical masks, thermometers, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizers, gloves, and Panadol” to ship to China. According to a company newsletter, the Greenland Group sourced 3 million protective masks, 700,000 hazmat suits and 500,000 pairs of protective gloves from “Australia, Canada, Turkey and other countries.”
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