Two Czech politicians thank Taiwan for donation

ROC Central News Agency

04/04/2020 09:17 PM

Taipei, April 4 (CNA) Two prominent political figures in the Czech Republic thanked Taiwan for its donation of medical equipment to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, according to a video message posted by Taiwan's foreign ministry on its Facebook page Saturday.

In a 93-second video, Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib and Czech senator Jiří Drahoš shared their messages to Taiwan after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced on Monday the donation of 10 million face masks to countries seriously affected by the outbreak, including the Czech Republic.

In addition, Taiwan also donated 25 pulmonary ventilators and other equipment such as ventilator filters, medical visors and disinfectant spray to the Central European country.

The video showed Czech representative to Taiwan Patrick Rumlar receiving the donations from MOFA officials.

"Thank you very much also for the donation of ventilators. They will be used to save lives in our hospitals," Hřib said. "I hope this situation will be over soon, so that we can cooperate more in the future."

Hřib also mentioned that Taiwan's success in its fight against coronavirus has been very inspiring for people in Prague.

Meanwhile, Drahoš thanked the Taiwanese people for their "selfless shipment" of the medical gear and for the "willingness and openness" of Taiwan's government to share its experience and expertise in combating coronavirus.

"You have adopted one of the most efficient measures which could serve as an example for other countries...It would be beneficial if your nation could be involved in the World Health Organization," Drahoš said.

The senator, who chairs the committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions, also said he is glad that Taiwan's Academia Sinica and the Czech Academy of Sciences are currently preparing to jointly develop rapid tests kits for the coronavirus.

(By Matt Yu and Emerson Lim)

Enditem/AW