TOKYO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- At a time when China is diligently fighting the novel coronavirus, Chinese nationals in Japan have donated medical supplies such as masks and protective suits to help mitigate a shortage in their motherland.
After learning how the outbreak led to a shortfall in medical necessities, the Union of Chinese Residing in Japan called on all Chinese associations as well as individuals in Japan to make contributions to China's fight against the epidemic.
Donations followed in batches from Chinese business owners and chambers.
According to the Union, more than 70 affiliated associations and chambers immediately took action and raised donations and medical supplies including masks, protective clothes, goggles and gloves, worth a total of 39.84 million yen (about 363,000 U.S. dollars) in only two weeks.
"When trouble occurs at one spot, help comes from all quarters. We would like to show our love for the motherland and hometown," said He Naihe, chairman of the Union.
Meanwhile, Chinese associations and chambers of commerce in Kyushu and Okinawa also issued initiatives, urging donations from overseas Chinese to support the prevention and control of the epidemic back in China.
In only a few days, roughly 280,000 surgical masks, over 1,100 protective suits, and more than 30,000 bottles of disinfectant and disinfectant towels were gathered.
Some individuals drove hundreds of miles overnight to buy an extra box of masks, while others queued in the freezing cold to buy more protective suits.
In the warehouse of a logistics company in the Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo are large cardboard boxes filled with anti-epidemic materials waiting to be sent to China. They were raised by the Hubei General Chamber of Commerce in Japan as well as other Chinese associations and enterprises.
Some Chinese volunteered to transfer the goods. They pulled up banners, raised national flags and shouted "Come on, Wuhan! Come on, Hubei! Come on China!"
The Chinese embassy in Japan last month listed a dozen goods in urgent need in China.
Chinese Ambassador to Japan Kong Xuanyou expressed his appreciation to the overseas Chinese community in Japan for its devotion to the motherland, saying that the epidemic would soon dissipate as long as the Chinese people unite together.
Kong said China's efforts to defeat the virus are bearing fruit: the number of recoveries have outpaced deaths and the rate of severe cases is slowing down.
China has full confidence in winning the people's war against the epidemic, he added.
Noting that the number of infected cases of the novel coronavirus in Japan have increased recently, Kong said that China will continue to closely coordinate with Japan to eradicate the virus.
