Commentary: China's COVID-19 aid is humanitarian, not geopolitical

Workers transfer medical supplies from China in a warehouse at the Almaty International Airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 2, 2020. (Kursiv Newspaper/Handout via Xinhua)

No country can detach itself from such a severe pandemic. China has helped solve the pressing needs of many virus-hit countries with assistance and experience, thus contributing to mankind's fight against the contagion. China is never on its agenda to make aid a ploy to pursue influence.

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- As the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic is taking a heavy toll globally, China has provided much-needed medical supplies and treatment experience to help many countries defeat the fatal virus.

However, certain critics and media have tried to politicize China's sincere and substantial assistance, alleging "politics of generosity," "mask diplomacy" and "propaganda."

Some of them said "there is a geopolitical component, including a struggle for influence through spinning and the politics of generosity."

It should be noted that some Western politicians just overthink and gauge the heart of a gentleman with their own standards. China has been offering emergency humanitarian aid to other countries, especially hard-hit or inadequately prepared nations to save more lives, to jointly control the global pandemic as early as possible.

Fan Xianrong (L), the Chinese ambassador to Ukraine, delivers aid to Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Andrii Semyvolos at the Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, Ukraine, April 1, 2020.(Xinhua/Li Dongxu)

China's government, enterprises at home and abroad, institutions, and provinces and cities have donated large amounts of face masks, test kits and protective suits to 120 countries and four international organizations. Chinese companies run day and night to produce ventilators and protective gear to deliver urgent orders from international clients while meeting domestic demands.

Chinese front-line medical experts have shared without any reserve their valuable treatment experience with peers in more than 100 countries and regions, through nearly 30 video conferences. China has sent teams of medical experts to Iran, Iraq, Italy, Serbia, Cambodia, Pakistan, Laos and Venezuela to help contain COVID-19.

When facing severe shortages of protective gear in its early battle against the epidemic, China received medical materials from many countries and organizations. As China has turned the tide in its domestic fight against the virus, its massive aid to others is in return for global support. It shows the responsible country's substantial efforts in joining the international community to defeat the common enemy of humanity.

No country can detach itself from such a severe pandemic. Having contained COVID-19 domestically, China has helped solve the pressing needs of many virus-hit countries with assistance and experience, thus contributing to mankind's fight against the contagion. As China has always done things fair and square, it is never on its agenda to make aid a ploy to pursue influence.

The paranoid critics should stop politicizing and distorting Chinese assistance, as their comments run counter to the vital global solidarity in handling the deteriorating public health crisis.