Rumor 12: China is helping other countries fight COVID-19 only to expand its geopolitical influence.

Fact: China helps other countries out of a humanitarian spirit and gratitude. It also stems from the firm belief in the community with a shared future for mankind. Moreover, China has accumulated some experience in fighting the virus and they may prove useful for others.

During the height of the outbreak in China in late January and early February, many countries, including Germany, have lent an altruistic hand to help China. The Chinese people have the tradition of returning kindness with more kindness. This has been stressed in the telephone conversations between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his German counterpart Heiko Maas and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

By April 23, China's central and local governments have donated 1.7 million masks and 24,000 sets of protective clothing to Germany. Many Chinese companies and civil organizations have also donated millions of masks, gloves, goggles and other protective supply to Germany.

The Chinese government has supported Germany's commercial procurement of medical supplies from China. At present, about 25 metric tons of medical supplies are exported from China to Germany every day by air.

China has accumulated some useful experience in fighting COVID-19. After about two months of strict prevention and control, the outbreak in China is basically under control. The WHO's European Office believes that China's experience can serve as references for other countries to help them formulate effective responses and treatments for serious patients.

Rumor 13: Medical supplies imported from China are fake and inferior products.

Fact: China carries out strict quality tests on all medical products exported. Part of the problem stems from misuse or different quality standards.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, China exported 55 billion yuan ($7.77 billion) worth of epidemic prevention and control supplies from March 1 to April 25.

This include 21.1 billion masks, 109 million protective suits, 9.29 million infrared thermometers, 110,000 patient monitors, 763 million pairs of surgical gloves and 32.94 million pairs of goggles. Only an extremely small fraction of the exports was reported with quality problems.

Since April 2, the Chinese government has issued a policy to strengthen quality control of exported medical products. It is required that the exported goods not only obtain qualification from Chinese medical product supervision authorities, but also must meet the quality standards of the importing country.

Some media hyped about defects in China's medical products, but after verification, it was found that the issue was due to different product standards between China and Europe. In addition, some institutions did not strictly comply with the use instructions. Here are two popular examples:

On March 28, Dutch media reported that more than 600,000 masks bought from China had quality problems and were recalled by the country's health authority. Investigation by Chinese authorities found that the Chinese company had informed the Dutch import company that the masks were non-surgical masks before the shipment. Export declaration procedures were also performed in the name of non-surgical masks.

On March 23, a Czech health official told Czech media that the error rate of testing kits purchased from China was as high as 80 percent. Later, the Czech Deputy Health Minister Roman Prymula, an epidemiologist, made it clear that the kits had an actual error rate of between 20 and 30 percent, and that some medical staff members failed to follow the testing instructions, which led to the misunderstanding.

Rumor 14: China used the novel coronavirus to cripple Western economies.

Fact: The Chinese economy is closely connected to the world economy. Only when the world economy runs well can the Chinese economy thrive.

The Chinese economy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. China's GDP contracted by 6.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, recording its worst plunge since 1992 – the first year when quarterly data became available. The last time China experienced economic contraction was in 1976.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the Chinese economy has become increasingly integrated with the world economy. China's foreign trade volume stood at 31.54 trillion yuan in 2019, with exports reaching 17.23 trillion yuan, accounting for 18 percent of the total economy. China is interdependent on the rest of the world, and it is in China's interest for the world economy to recover quickly and grow steadily.