Chinese government rejects allegations that its face masks were defective, tells countries to 'double check' instructions

• The Chinese government is rebuffing the notion that its face masks exported to other countries were "defective" and suggested that the nations did not "double-check" the instructions.
• China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday claimed in a tweet that the "true story" behind the alleged faulty face masks imported by the Netherlands was that the Chinese manufacturer explicitly "stated clearly that they are non-surgical."
• Representatives from the Chinese government in recent weeks shifted the narrative surrounding the coronavirus's origins by questioning its validity.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Chinese government is rebuffing the notion that its face masks exported to other countries were "defective" and suggested that the nations did not "double-check" the instructions.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday claimed in a tweet that the "true story" behind the alleged faulty face masks sent to the Netherlands was that the Chinese manufacturer explicitly "stated clearly that they are non-surgical."

"Masks of various category offer different levels of protection, for day-to-day use and for medical purposes," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in the tweet. "[Please] double-check the instructions to make sure that you ordered, paid for and distributed the right ones. Do not use non-surgical masks for surgical purposes."

The statement comes as the Dutch government recalled 600,000 of the Chinese-manufactured face masks for being defective and not meeting safety standards - over half of the 1.3 million total N-95 protective masks that were delivered to the Netherlands.

Hospitals in the country were requested to return the masks that did not properly fit on faces and prevent COVID-19 virus particles from making human contact. The N-95 mask is able to block out 95% of airborne particles when used properly.

"When they were delivered to our hospital, I immediately rejected those masks," one hospital employee reportedly said to Dutch broadcaster NOS. "If those masks do not close properly, the virus particles can simply pass. We do not use them."

Other countries have expressed concern with medical equipment manufactured in China. After purchasing 340,000 test kits from a Chinese manufacturer, Spain's government claimed that 60,000 of them did not accurately test for COVID-19.

European Union Minister for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said in a blog post that the Chinese government was attempting to be perceived as an international ally in the "global battle of narratives."

"China is aggressively pushing the message that, unlike the US, it is a responsible and reliable partner," Borrell wrote. "In the battle of narratives, we have also seen attempts to discredit the EU as such and some instances where Europeans have been stigmatized as if all were carriers of the virus."

Representatives from the Communist Party of China (CCP) in recent weeks have shifted the narrative surrounding the coronavirus's origins by questioning its validity. Despite health officials and scientists widely agreeing that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China - likely from a wildlife market - government officials suggested that the US Army may have shipped the virus to China.

The Global Times, which operates under the Chinese government's purview, also claimed in a tweet that Italy "may have had an unexplained strain of pneumonia" in November and December - around the same time as China reported its first positive case.

And get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.