On 21 April, Chinese Consulate General in New York, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations, New York City (NYC) Mayor's Office for International Affairs held a virtual handover ceremony and donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to NYC. The donation included 25,000 N95 masks, 2,000 protective suits and 75,000 surgical gloves. Ambassador Huang Ping, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, Ambassador Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations and Penny Abeywardena, NYC's Commissioner for International Affairs attended the ceremony.
Consul General Huang Ping said that the pandemic constitutes a global challenge to all of us and we must join hands together to overcome it.When China was in great difficulty, the people of New York lent a hand without hesitation. China is a grateful nation and we are doing whatever we can to support American people. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Chinese government and people have extended a helping hand to the United States through different channels. According to incomplete estimate, we have donated 1000 ventilators, 6,550,000 masks, 310,000 surgical gloves, 150,000 goggles, 32,000 protective suits to New York alone. We also facilitated a large amount of American purchases of PPEs in China.
Huang Ping emphasized that our two presidents have called for anti-epidemic cooperation between our two nations and the world in their latest phone call on March 27th. As the two biggest economies in the world, China and the United States need to lead the efforts in fighting the disease. This is not the time for finger-pointing. This is a time for solidarity, collaboration and mutual support.
Ambassador Zhang Jun said that we are in one world. Virus knows no borders. The pandemic poses an extraordinary challenge to the whole world. In fighting the virus, we have no choice but to stay united and cooperate with each other. With solidarity and cooperation between China and the United States, as well as other countries, we will win the war against the virus.
Ambassador Zhang Jun emphasized both China and the United States are members of the UN family and permanent members of the Security Council. Strengthening cooperation between China and the United States not only serves the common interests of our two countries, but also meets the expectation of the international community. We need to support the UN and the WHO in playing a leading and coordinating role to defeat COVID-19, the common enemy of mankind.
The two ambassadors emphasized that we all are New Yorkers in fighting COVID-19. New York will come out even stronger.With the unity of all New Yorkers, we will defeat the pandemic and bring New York back to a dynamic and colorful life.
Penny Abeywardena expressed her deep gratitude on behalf of Mayor of NYC Bill de Blasio for the support and partnership. Abeywardena said that what Chinese government and Chinese community have donated have been truly extraordinary. We have seen how the diplomatic communities have shown that they are part of the NYC. The Chinese community is one of the most important communities in NYC and the city government will not tolerate any harassment or discrimination against any of our communities.
Journalists from the Associated Press, Reuters, Xinhua News Agency, China Daily etc. also attended the ceremony.