On March 5th, the Ministry of Commerce held a regular online press conference, responding to issues such as foreign media reports that China has banned the export of medical masks and raw materials required for production. Li Xingqian, Director General of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that China is a major producer of masks globally. For many years, it has been providing medical and civilian mask export services to countries around the world, and the annual export volume remains stable at over 70% of the production scale. Masks belong to free trade products, and the Chinese government has not implemented any trade control measures. (For details, please refer to the article: China prohibits mask exports? More than 20 countries have implemented trade restrictions on China, how will foreign trade enterprises be affected? The Ministry of Commerce has responded.)


Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Ministry of Commerce, as the centralized management department of foreign trade, has never issued a ban on the export of masks and their production raw materials. Enterprises can carry out relevant trade in accordance with the principle of marketization.


On March 5th, the website of the Office of the United States Trade Representative was updated, providing tariff exemptions for over 100 medical related products imported from China by 27 American companies. (For details, please refer to the article: The United States exempts tariffs on medical products such as Chinese masks)


On March 9, the press spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in the Republic of Korea said that in order to support the Korean government and people in fighting against the COVID-19 and help the South Korean side solve the problem of mask supply, China will export masks to the South Korea from March 10, with the first batch of 5 million, including ordinary medical masks and N95 masks. In the future, China will continue to export masks to South Korea. The above decision has been communicated to the South Korean government through diplomatic channels.


The spokesperson said that this is a decision made by the Chinese government to overcome its own difficulties, reflecting the neighborly relationship and friendship between China and South Korea in terms of mutual assistance and solidarity. China is willing to work with South Korea to strengthen mutual aid in materials, share information and experience, carry out joint prevention and control cooperation, and strive to jointly overcome the epidemic as soon as possible. Previously, the Chinese government had decided to provide assistance to South Korea with 1.1 million masks and 10000 sets of medical protective clothing.