
Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute - Cantbekhan
http://www.rfi.fr/en/europe/20200402-china-coronavirus-face-mask-france-stolen-us
======
robocat
France hijacks masks and other PPE intended for EU:
[https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/coronavirus-
eur...](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/coronavirus-european-
solidarity-sidelined-as-french-interests-take-priority-1.4216184)

“On March 3rd, President Emmanuel Macron announced that he was requisitioning
‘all stocks and the production of protective masks’ for distribution to
medical personnel and French people infected with Covid-19. One fifth of all
surgical procedures in the EU use personal protective equipment imported from
Asia by the Swedish company Mölnlycke. The company’s main distribution
warehouse for southern Europe, Belgium and the Netherlands is in Lyon.”

~~~
RegnisGnaw
The better quote would be this:

"Mölnlycke’s entire stock of an estimated six million masks was seized by the
French. All had been contracted for, including a million masks each for
France, Italy and Spain. The rest were destined for Belgium, the Netherlands,
Portugal and Switzerland, which has special trading status with the EU."

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RegnisGnaw
Germany did the same thing to Switzerland (seized rather then outbid)

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-09/germany-f...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-09/germany-
faces-backlash-from-neighbors-over-mask-export-ban)

Countries that have the power are doing everything to ensure they have masks
first. I'm not surprised France and US are doing it.

------
ardy42
So what's going on? This article claims that millions of N95 respirators
_located in the US_ are queued up to be shipped overseas:

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2020/03/30/i-spent...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2020/03/30/i-spent-
a-day-in-the-coronavirus-driven-feeding-frenzy-of-n95-mask-sellers-and-buyers-
and-this-is-what-i-learned/)

> By the end of the day, roughly 280 million masks from warehouses around the
> U.S. had been purchased by foreign buyers and were earmarked to leave the
> country, according to the broker — and that was in one day.

> To his knowledge none of the masks had been purchased by buyers in the U.S.

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jb775
Shouldn't France be pissed off at China for re-selling the already sold masks?
The US probably wasn't even told the masks in question were already sold.

The countries should coordinate who needs masks sooner, and work out the
logistics. My wife is a nurse in the US and they literally don't have enough
masks for nurses/doctors to wear.

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mantap
SARS was 20 years ago. France has had 20 years to prepare for this but left it
to the last minute. Of course the masks are going to the highest bidder,
that's entirely predictable.

~~~
conchulio
It’s like if you paid for a new car and when you want to unlock it and drive
it home someone else pays two times more and takes it from you.

That’s not not allowed even in the freest markets in the world.

~~~
mantap
It is allowed. It's a fundamental principle of international law that states
are not subject to the laws of other states, except by treaty. There's no
applicable law that would prevent China from doing this.

Besides even in the consumer space you have things like airlines overbooking
flights and then kicking people off the plane when too many passengers show
up.

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timwaagh
It is pretty ugly what is happening now. france seizing european masks. the us
seizing french masks. dutch ventilators getting seized in the us. we're
supposed to be allies. let's stop this now. Perhaps we can let nato take
charge of mask distribution and procurement. Otherwise that thing with
Italians getting russian aid might not be a one-off.

~~~
notechback
Italy got more masks and PPE from Germany and France than China and Russia.
You don't hear much about the former as their intention is to actually help,
while the latter are doing a propaganda campaign.

~~~
zepto
I.e. the propaganda campaign is working

------
sfj
Meanwhile, Taiwan is donating 2 million masks to the US:

[https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-
national-s...](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-
security/taiwan-to-donate-2m-hospital-masks-to-united-states)

------
Verdes
France gave back half of the Swedish masks (coming from the Molnlyncke supply
in Lyon) and they were first seized in France, because of a French requisition
law... Will the US Government give back half the plane they stole from French
people in China?

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edwinyzh
Things like this is really an eye-opener to me, frankly.

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diebeforei485
Even removing the "paying 3-4 times more, and in cash" aspect, the US probably
needs it more at the moment.

~~~
MagnumOpus
France has 900 cases per million vs the US at 700 cases per million. So: no,
unless you think French lives are worth less?

~~~
diebeforei485
Masks cannot be divided fractionally, so per-capita analysis does not work
here.

~~~
mantap
That doesn't make any sense.

~~~
thatguy0900
You need masks based on the number of patients, not the number of patients per
capita, it makes perfect sense. Not that I'm defending this.

~~~
drusepth
Looking at either number of patients or patients per capita both result in
nonfractional masks given to individual patients.

It's just a matter of whether someone morally thinks more patients equals more
urgent (60k FR vs 235K US), or a higher percentage of the population as
patients (0.08% FR vs 0.07% US) equals more urgent, no?

~~~
Wowfunhappy
I don't know where diebeforei485 was going with "fractional masks" either, but
thatguy0900 makes a good point in isolation.

A country of 1,000 people and a 10% infection rate has a greater shortage of
masks than a country of 5 people and a 100% infection rate.

~~~
drusepth
I agree with you, but I think that was MagnumOpus's point of bringing up
patients per million.

A country of 1,000 people and a 10% infection rate has more patients that need
masks, but it could be argued that a country of 5 people and a 100% infection
rate needs the masks more, lest their entire country suddenly collapse and
cease to exist.

Seems like arguing that France has more patients per million implies they have
a bigger threat to the country itself (traditions, systems, jobs, etc) or that
the spread is less contained (and therefore more in need of PPE), compared to
another country with a lower patients-per-million that is theoretically not
hit "as hard", but still may have more individual patients at risk.

------
osobo
Such an American thing to do. Joke's on them though: These Chinese masks are
often defective.

~~~
kharms
France blocked the export of (purchased) masks to Switzerland, and other
nations.

[https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/coronavirus_medical-goods-
from-...](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/coronavirus_medical-goods-from-the-eu-
remain-blocked/45642340)

