Hopefully, not for long - from the South China Morning Post:
Washington Governor Jay Inslee personally appealed to Xi Jinping for PPE, on advice of Chinese-American entrepreneur
A US state with close ties to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s alma mater directly petitioned the Chinese leader for protective clothing for its medical workers battling the coronavirus last month, leading to it receiving supplies from Sichuan province, Tsinghua University and other Chinese sources.
Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington state, wrote a personal letter to Xi on April 2 asking to “access the enormous productive capacity of China to obtain critically needed medical supplies” such as surgical masks, disposable gowns and gloves as state health authorities faced “extreme challenges” securing supplies.
The article continues to mention two reasons why this might not be such a good idea:
Beijing’s heightened screening followed complaints by some governments and hospitals that large quantities of PPE sent from China were below acceptable standards.
The governor’s plea also came as weeks of friction in US-China relations at the national level briefly appeared to be subsiding after Xi and US President Donald Trump agreed to a truce in their war of words over the origins of the coronavirus during a phone call in late March.
So China was exporting crap and President Trump called them on it. Set aside for the moment that Inslee should have had ample PPE on hand already, asking for it from the originator of the problem is just screwy. How about sending a letter to Ford or another American company. Weyerhaeuser (way-er-hau-zer) is a huge timber company with a major presence in WA State - they manufacture paper and pulp products and would be the perfect go-to people for filter masks.
Looking forward to this November when we vote in a real leader.
Leave a comment