China's Ministry of Public Security donated Personal Protective Equipment to Argentina's Ministry of Security in May 2020

On May 27, 2020, the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China donated 80,000 type I surgical masks and 30,000 general use gloves to Argentina's Ministry of Security in order to respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19). The materials arrived at Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires through a flight financed by the Chinese government.

Additional details

1. The Government of Argentina reported that the donation was made under an existing framework of security cooperation between the two nations; it is unknown if this is referencing a specific agreement made between the two ministries, or simply referencing the fact that the two ministries have cooperated in the past. 2. The Government of Argentina also reported that this was the "first batch" of sanitary materials; presumably, this means the first batch of materials to the Ministry of Security specifically. Further, Perfil reported that a second batch was scheduled to arrive on June 2, 2020. However, there is no evidence of such a shipment ever arriving. There are later reports of a donation from China's Ministry of Defense and the People's Liberation Army to Argentina's Ministry of Defense on or about June 17, 2020 (captured via project #91141). However, it is unclear if this is the donation intended to follow up the one captured in this project (#69324), or if it is unrelated. If it is unrelated, it is not known if the second batch of materials related to this donation ever arrived. 3. It is likely that this donation was transported via the "Air Bridge" ("puente aéreo") program, given that (1) the photo attached to the Government of Argentina article about the donation includes an Aerolíneas Argentinas plane and (2) the donation arrived at the Ezeiza International Airport. The "Air Bridge" ("Puente Aéreo") initiative included 42 flights by Aerolíneas Argentinas in 2020 between the Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires and the cities of Shanghai (35 flights) and Guangzhou (7 flights) to transport COVID-19 supplies from China to Argentina. However, while the catalogue of Air Bridge flights published by the Ministry of Health notes a donation from the Chinese Government did occur on May 27, 2020, it only included masks (rather than masks and gloves). This issue warrants further investigation. AidData has estimated the transaction amount for this donation based on price catalogues from the World Health Organization (WHO). Please see the TUFF Methodology for additional details.

Number of official sources

3

Number of total sources

6