Jang Ha-sung (middle), South Korea's ambassador to China, Han Fangming (left), founding chairman of the Charhar Institute and Fan Yurong, president of Jiangsu Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, attend a donation ceremony at the South Korean embassy in Beijing on Wednesday.

While South Korea is facing a shortage of epidemic prevention and control materials with an increasing number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases presenting an even graver challenge, Chinese non-governmental organizations and enterprises have offered a helping hand.

A donation ceremony was held at the South Korean embassy in Beijing on Wednesday, during which 10,000 protective outfits, 100,000 medical masks and 2,000 kilograms of disinfectants were donated to South Korea.

The Charhar Institute, a Chinese think tank, organized the donation with the cooperation of Jiangsu Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.

Jang Ha-sung, South Korea's ambassador to China, extended his gratitude to the Chinese government, think tanks and enterprises for their support and assistance to South Korea's epidemic prevention and control work.

"China and South Korea are two friendly close neighbors, and mutual support and assistance would help the two countries better combat the virus and consolidate bilateral relations," the ambassador said.

Han Fangming, founding chairman of the Charhar Institute, said the donation is a reciprocal goodwill gesture to the South Korean government and enterprises who aided China's fight against the coronavirus with a host of donations.

"We won't forget the assistance South Korea has offered us amid the epidemic," Han said.

Han emphasized that jointly combatting the virus will deepen China-South Korea bilateral relations, set an example of cooperation between two countries of different systems and bring a "spring" for Northeast Asia cooperation.

As of Wednesday, South Korea's total confirmed coronavirus cases stood at 5,328 as the death toll climbed to 32, according to Korea Centers for Diseases and Control data.

Source: Global Times, 2020/3/5