Sonu Sood’s humanitarian efforts amid the COVID-19 pandemic have won him national acclaim. Now, the actor has found an international role as the Chinese envoy to India replied to his appeal for shipments of oxygen concentrators to be released.
“We are trying to get hundreds of oxygen concentrators to India. It's sad to say that China has blocked lots of our consignments and here in India we are losing lives every minute,” Sood had tweeted on Saturday.
@SonuSood Noted your twitter info. Mr. Sood. China will do its utmost to support India fighting Covid-19. To my knowledge,freight air routes from China to India are operating normally. The past two weeks have witnessed 61 freight flights from China to India in operation.
— Sun Weidong (@China_Amb_India) May 1, 2021
Hours later, Chinese envoy Sun Weidong responded to his post assuring support and asking Sood for details of the blockage of imports.
“@SonuSood Noted your twitter info. Mr. Sood. China will do its utmost to support India fighting Covid-19. To my knowledge,freight air routes from China to India are operating normally. The past two weeks have witnessed 61 freight flights from China to India in operation,” Sun said.
“We've provided convenience in customs clearance&transportation for India to transport medical supplies from cities in China. Will continue to ensure smooth functioning of export channel of materials to India,” the envoy added.
“Pls let us know any problem you met (or email to chinaemb_in@mfa.gov.cn) so that we could try our best to help accordingly,” he said.
Following a cooldown of tensions between India and China along the border in Ladakh, China has adopted a friendlier posture towards India, offering aid as its neighbour grapples with the worst onset of COVID-19 in the world, with over 400,000 daily new infections reported on Saturday.
Chinese President Xi Jinpnig had on Friday offered his sympathy and support to Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi, saying, "I am very concerned about the recent situation of Covid-19 pandemic in India. On behalf of the Chinese Government and people, as well as in my own name, I would like to express sincere sympathies to the Indian Government and people.”
After Xi's letter to Modi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the phone and offered support and cooperation to India's efforts to deal with the massive surge of the COVID-19 in the country.
Stating that China is very concerned about the new round of coronavirus cases in India, Wang said as a close neighbour and partner, China understands the challenges India is facing and is ready to provide support and assistance to the best of its ability, a press release issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry here said.
Wang said the Red Cross Society of China, local governments, non-governmental friendship organisations and enterprises have extended assistance to the Indian side. China hopes and believes that the Indian government and people will achieve victory in the fight against the epidemic, he said.
Wang said to support India's efforts, China will continue to encourage and support Chinese enterprises to speed up production and provide anti-epidemic materials to India and facilitate customs clearance and transportation of anti-epidemic materials purchased by the Indian side.
With inputs from PTI
