Time for solidarity

Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, which is based in New York, said the actions of many Chinese-Americans since the outbreak hit both countries show how Chinese people are contributing to local communities and to a good US-China relationship.

Huang, also director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, suggested the two countries should keep working together at national level and through corporations.

To the relief of many, massive help from China has either arrived in the US, or is on its way.

As Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to the US, said on Sunday in an opinion piece in The New York Times, China was hit hard by the outbreak not long ago, so its people can empathize with the suffering in the US. China made huge sacrifices to fight the virus, and during the most difficult days, people worldwide offered a helping hand. Now, to help the US make it through, Chinese factories are operating flat out to fulfill orders for medical supplies; provincial and city governments are rushing to help their sister states and cities in the US; and donations are pouring in from China's business sector.

Chinese companies have donated 1.5 million masks, 200,000 testing kits, 180,000 protective gloves and many other medical supplies to the US, Cui said.

On Saturday, Cuomo, the New York state governor, said the Chinese government had helped with a donation of 1,000 ventilators. They came from several Chinese foundations, and Huang Ping, the Chinese consul general in New York, assisted with the donation.

"This is a big deal, and it's going to make a significant difference for us," said the governor.