China sent the Netherlands 1.3 million N95-type face masks. All of them are recalled, Dutch health ministry announced, citing poor quality in design and filter functionality. Doctors and nurses who treat critically ill #Covid19 patients almost used them nos.nl/artikel/232867…
Dutch health ministry statement: "Due to shortages, we find ourselves in a situation where the only protective equipment is available is the one that does not meet the highest standards. This is an issue in all countries. Last Saturday, the first shipment from a Chinese ...
manufacturer was partially delivered. These are masks with a KN95 quality certificate. The Ministry ... received a first signal that the quality ... did not meet the criteria during inspection. Part of this shipment had already been delivered to healthcare providers ...
the rest of the cargo was immediately put on hold and was not distributed further. A second test also showed that the masks did not meet the quality standard. It has now been decided that the whole shipment will not be used anymore. New shipments will undergo an additional test."
A spokesperson for the Catharina Hospital in the Dutch city of Eindhoven told public broadcaster NOS that the Chinese shipment was immediately rejected. "There is a lot of junk on the market. There are people trying to take advantage of the current crisis, at high prices."
Chinese embassy to the Netherlands has no immediate comment. Ambassador Xu Hong's latest tweet says China is happy to help the US
In case you missed this: Spain announced last week it would return rapid testing kits made by a Chinese company, since the accuracy rate fell far short of the 80% claimed by the supplier. The Chinese co. said in a statement it would provide a new batch scmp.com/news/china/soc…
In a slightly irrelevant but somehow connected development, No 10 is said to be furious about "China's lies", with a strongly worded front page on Britain's most popular tabloid for tomorrow. @AmbLiuXiaoMing's team is gonna be furious next. 
Chinese companies play a big role in donating medical equipment to the Netherlands. Huawei's donation of 200,000 face masks (no links to the recalled ones) was personally received by Dutch Deputy Prime Minister @HugoDeJonge (centre). 600,000 more is said to be on the way
Whereas @KLM's Chinese partners – China Eastern, China Southern and Xiamen Airlines – donated a total of 230,000 face masks + 150,000 medical gloves to the Netherlands. Stickers on the donation: "Hang in there, the Netherlands. From China with love." No links to recalled batch.
