#THREAD: #Chinese Regime Hoards Global Inventory of Medical Supplies, Leading to Growing Shortage Outside #China

Masks, protective suits, goggles, surgical gloves, disinfectant, ECMO machines & ventilators are critical supplies now.

A must read https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinese-regime-hoards-global-inventory-of-medical-supplies-leading-to-growing-shortage-outside-china_3298893.html?utm_source=Epoch+Times+Newsletters&utm_campaign=e82156fac7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_07_12_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4fba358ecf-e82156fac7-242971238

As countries deal with escalating outbreaks, evidence has emerged that Chinese authorities have bought up billions of masks & hundreds of tons of critical medical supplies globally. Meanwhile, China, itself a major manufacturer of these supplies, stopped exporting since January

Chinese firms and overseas Chinese organizations are the main means to realize Beijing’s global sourcing, buying up stock from the United States, Europe, Australia, and other countries.

Beijing mobilized the Chinese diaspora to help buy up goods. “Keep on buying while sending back to China medical supplies & try your best to buy as much as possible,” read one article posted on the official website of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s United Front Department.

The United Front Department, an agency dedicated to spreading the regime’s agenda inside and outside China. In the West, United Front organizations are usually Chinese student unions at colleges and universities, Chinese chambers of commerce, and Chinese associations.

The United Front encouraged all overseas Chinese to follow in the association’s footsteps to buy up all available medical materials and send them back to China.

The article explained that overseas Chinese in the US, Canada, UK, Argentina, Australia, UAE, etc bought tons of goods

Some overseas Chinese organizations in those countries buy from local manufacturers and major wholesalers directly, such as DuPont. Others buy from whatever retailers they can find, according to the article.

The groups then hired Chinese and international shipping companies to transport the goods, such as FedEx and SF Express. The United Front also encouraged Chinese nationals to purchase goods and transport them in their personal luggage when they travel back to China.

On Feb. 27, the consulate general in Los Angeles said that Chinese communities in the Los Angeles area had donated more than 60 tons of medical supplies since the epidemic ignited in China.

China’s embassy in Japan, for example, announced on its website on Feb. 4: “At present, China urgently needs medical protective suits, medical masks (N95 & better), goggles & other protective materials.” It asked Chinese nationals to purchase these goods and donate them to China.

Since January, Chinese state-run enterprises, companies with government entities as majority shareholders, and private firms began sourcing medical supplies to ship into China.

State-run Beijing News reported on Feb. 10 that roughly 50 percent of the world’s supply of masks is manufactured in China. In 2019, China produced more than 5 billion masks, 54 percent of which were medical-grade masks.

If more than 2 billions medical masks were shipped to China during the first two months of the year, that means China imported about half of the world’s annual production of medical masks.

More info in the article link.