Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, China has reportedly threatened to cut medical supplies to the Netherlands after the latter had renamed its embassy in Taiwan from “The Netherlands Trade and Investment Office” to “Netherlands Office Taipei.”
As explained by Representative of the Embassy, Guy Wittich, the name was simplified due to a surge in activities in new areas, besides trade and investment, between the two countries. Interestingly, several other countries such as Australia, Britain, and Japan have similarly simplified the names of their embassies in Taiwan. As of May 2, the Chinese virus has infected 39,791 and claimed had 4,893 lives.
The ‘name change’ was reportedly done on April 27, also referred to as the Netherlands King’s Day. The day commemorates the colonial rule of the country in Taiwan during the 17th century. ‘Analysts’ speaking to the Global Times, said that the decision of Netherlands is reminiscent of its “former glory” and can “humiliate” the people of Taiwan. The Chinese government has also warned that the name change concerns the country’s “core interests” and asked the Netherlands to follow its “One China principle.’
Global Times alleged that the Chinese citizens are now demanding a boycott of Dutch products. A professor named Li Haidong had further claimed that the expansion of business interests in Taiwan somehow interfered with China’s internal affairs. He added that the step can have a drastic impact on the society of Taiwan, besides long-term trauma. Li indicated that China could stop delivering medical supplies to the Netherlands.
However, China’s threat to withhold medical supplies could ring hollow, as the Netherlands recently recalled 600,000 substandard medical masks that had been imported from China, and numerous other countries have reported similar issues with Chinese-made medical gear.
Faulty Test Kits of China
After exporting the deadly Wuhan Coronavirus to the world, China has now been caught dumping faulty Corona testing kits to various countries, which are now responsible for delivering misleading results during the tests.
The 2 million home test kits bought by the United Kingdom from two Chinese firms, namely, AllTest Biotech and Wondfo Biotech, for a whopping $20 million had also been found to be faulty and insufficiently accurate by a laboratory at the Oxford University. The Government had to pay the money upfront in 24 hours and collect the crates of test kits from a Chinese facility.
The Indian Government had also procured 5 lakh kits from two Chinese companies – Wondfo Biotech and Livzon Diagnostic and distributed among the states. But after several state governments complained of inaccurate results, the kits were tested by the ICMR, following which they asked the states to stop future procurements and use of the ones distributed earlier.
