UK Reliant on PPE Shipments from Tyrant Nations China and Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a signi
JASON LEE/AFP/Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

The United Kingdom has found herself in the position of having to purchase personal protection equipment (PPE) for frontline medical staff treating coronavirus patients from human rights abusers China and Turkey.

While a NATO member and a European Union candidate member, Turkey has increasingly come under criticism for its offences against democracy in recent years, including imprisoning journalists, opposition politicians, and rights activists. Earlier this year, the country’s Islamist president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sought to weaponise the migrant crisis by opening the gates of Europe to Syrian asylum seekers. The move came after months of Erdoğan claiming Brussels had breached the EU-Turkey migrant deal that promised money for the near-east country and eventual visa-free travel to the bloc for Turks.

However, this week, this questionable ally on the fringe of Europe has become one of two key importers of vital medical protection equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday, The Guardian reported that the shipment of vital equipment from Turkey was intended to arrive on Sunday had been delayed, with housing and communities minister Robert Jenrick saying yesterday that the 400,000 gowns, part of an 84-tonne order of PPE from Turkey, would be arriving on Monday. However, there had been another delay, with the BBC reporting on Monday the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, as saying that while he was confident the gowns would be delivered by Monday afternoon, there had been “challenges at the Turkish end”.

On early Monday evening, Sky News reported that the air force transport planes collecting the PPE from the NATO ally had not even taken off from RAF Brize Norton base. With the round trip taking 12 hours, that means at best the gowns arriving by Tuesday morning. A defence source had told the broadcaster that the planes would not take off until they had been informed that the shipments were ready. Turkish sources had claimed that the issue was not from their side, either.

Later on Monday, a transport plane finally flew to pick up the PPE. A government source told Sky News that a shipment had been arranged with a commercial supplier in Turkey to arrive on the weekend, but something went wrong and the British had to ask Turkish officials for help. Two Turkish sources also told the broadcaster that the British request for support came on Sunday, and that the Turkish manufacturer had only filed a request with the country’s health ministry on Monday to export the protection equipment.

While sources were quick to tell the media that the Turkish government did not hold up the orders and did all in their power to assist, the delays highlight the problem of depending on foreign suppliers for key materials. In fact, the UK had already accepted 250,000 pieces of PPE as a gift from the Islamist nation over the Easter weekend.

On Friday at least 60 NHS trusts were reported to be close to running out of equipment, making the delays over the Turkish consignment all the more urgent. However, even if the 400,000 gowns arrive by Tuesday, the NHS has been using 150,000 across the country every day. To cover the shortages, the government has encouraged hospitals to re-use disposable protective equipment, insisting it is safe to do so after washing.

Despite best efforts of fashion designers like Barbour turning their machines to mass-producing gowns, the British manufacturing base is currently unable to cope with the need to produce our own PPE at the volume needed, thanks in part to globalisation shifting manufacturing to foreign countries, particularly China.

The communist nation’s regime which is actively restricting the freedoms of Tibet, persecuting Chinese Christians and the Muslim Uyghurs, as well as infringing on the rights of Hong Kongers, is a major trading partner of the United Kingdom. On top of its human rights abuses, in recent months the country has come under criticism for its failure to take responsibility for the pandemic, which originated in Wuhan. Reports claim the country’s hierarchy knew about human-to-human transmission in the early weeks of the outbreak and hid information from the World Health Organization (WHO). British think tank the Henry Jackson Society has recommended Western countries sue China — a move backed by seven-in-ten Britons.

Senior Cabinet minister Michael Gove confirmed on Sunday that the UK should also be expecting several orders from China for a total of 25 million gowns. Meanwhile, concerns have been raised in recent weeks over the quality of Chinese-made products after the UK and Europe have found coronavirus testing kits and masks do not work despite claims the materials were EU-certified.

British politicians have warned that the pandemic has exposed two things: the fragility of a globalised supply chain and the West’s dependence on China in it.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage predicted that Chinese interests would seek to take advantage of the crisis by buying up British industry. He also cautioned that accepting China’s help in procuring medical equipment could come at the price of allowing Chinese firm Huawei into Britain’s 5G network. It remains to be seen if Turkey will request favours in return for the previously-donated 250,000 PPE pieces, given the threats Turkey levelled against Europe over the migrant deal.

As a result, the British government is coming under increasing pressure to both cut ties with communist China and seek recompense.

Last week, Mr Farage called for a boycott of Chinese-made products, should the British government fail to seek justice for the devastation to lives and the economy caused by the Chinese virus. However, at least as far as medical safety equipment is concerned, Britain remains in the regrettable position of being reliant on it.

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