TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — German Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn on Wednesday (April 23) wrote to Taiwan’s Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to express his appreciation for Taiwan’s donation of one million medical masks.

The German minister expressed gratitude for Taiwan’s assistance and cooperation over the last few weeks as German authorities have striven to control a rapid spread of community transmissions of the coronavirus (COVID-19), according to a letter published by the German Institute Taipei on Thursday (April 24). The generous donation from Taiwan has arrived in Germany and been distributed to medical workers in urgent need of the masks, Spahn wrote.

Germany has benefited from Taiwan’s success in fighting the coronavirus, stated Spahn, who went on to say that the country has begun to see a flattened infection curve. With some restrictions still in place, German society will gradually return to its normal state with prudence, the minister observed.

Taiwan has donated more than 1.7 million surgical masks to allies, the U.S., EU countries, Southeast Asian partners, and Latin American nations since April as part of its initiative to provide aid to countries severely hit by the global pandemic.

Earlier news reports indicated that the German federal government spokesperson, Steffen Seibert, had during a press conference dodged media questions regarding Taiwan’s donation. The German authorities’ response has drawn some criticism from Taiwanese netizens.

Nevertheless, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) later said that the donation was part of Taiwan’s contributions to the international community. “Even without publicly expressing gratitude, I believe they [the receivers of the mask donations] bear a sense of appreciation in their heart,” she said.

On Thursday, Taiwan also donated 35,000 forehead thermometers to its allies, the U.S., and Germany. Both Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and German Representative to Taiwan Thomas Prinz attended the donation ceremony held in Taipei.