China will not restrict exports of medical equipment

China will not restrict the exports of medical equipment and goods need to fight the global pandemic.

Media reports cited a Chinese government official.

It said that China will not restrict exports of protective gear needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

After China announced last week it would start inspecting exports following Western complaints that some Chinese virus test kits, masks and other products did not meet quality standards.

Since then, U.S. officials expressed frustration with bureaucratic and other hurdles that American companies facing in trying to export goods made in their Chinese plants and that are considered key to fighting the pandemic.

Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said Beijing has taken steps to speed up customs clearance while ensuring the quality of exported epidemic-prevention goods.

“China has not and will not restrict the export of epidemic prevention materials,” Gao said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a call with top Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi this week, stressed the importance of facilitating medical supply exports to meet critical demand in the United States.

Terry Branstad, the U.S. ambassador to China, said slow down witnessed in the provision of medical supplies that appeared to caused by China’s implementation of stricter quality standards.

U.S. officials also said some air shipments blocked or delayed because of Chinese requirements that inbound flight crews tested for the virus and cleared.

Hugo Yon, the senior official in charge of aviation at the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, told that those specific issues appeared to resolve.