During the height of the battle against COVID-19 in Wuhan, two Chinese-Australian companies got together in an act of selfless compassion to buy medical supplies to send to their compatriots on the front line.

The two companies, Risland Australia and Greenland Australia – both property developers based in Sydney – managed to put together two aircraft loads of equipment

The two companies, Risland Australia and Greenland Australia – both property developers based in Sydney – managed to put together two aircraft loads of equipment.

Hu Guotao, chief executive of Risland Australia, said the purchases were made in early February, weeks before the Australian government activated its emergency response to COVID-19.

In a statement to China Daily, he said the initial request for help came from the Guoqiang Foundation, a Chinese charitable foundation.

He said the foundation was seeking help to support Chinese efforts in the battle against the disease.

“At the time, China was the country most severely affected by the disease,” Hu said.

Risland Australia was one of many Chinese companies around the world asked to help source and ship medical supplies to medical teams fighting the disease in Wuhan.

Much of the equipment sourced included protective suits and gloves of various types, most of them non-medical or non-surgical.

Despite some negative reports since in the Australian media, Hu said the request was no secret. A media release was issued at the time and it was reported in the Asian business media, he said.

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“Risland Australia’s once-only shipment was a humanitarian gesture to communities most affected by a virus that later traveled rapidly around the world,” Hu said.

“The donation was prompted by the World Health Organization’s appeal to supply such materials to China, which was in crisis at the time.

“Risland Australia understands that, as conditions in China are easing, the Guoqiang Foundation is now in the planning phase for a reciprocal shipment of medical and other supplies to Australia.”

The Guoqiang Foundation is a private foundation established in 2013 by Yang Guoqiang, chairman and executive director of Country Garden Holdings, which is based in Foshan in South China’s Guangdong province. Yang is also known by his Cantonese name, Yeung Kwok-keung.

Since it was established, the foundation has distributed more than A$1.2 billion ($733 million) globally to programs that support education and poverty relief.

According to Risland, a chartered aircraft with 82 metric tons of medical supplies, including 100,000 most-needed protective coveralls and 900,000 pairs of medical gloves, left Sydney on Feb 24.

Risland Australia is a subsidiary of international real estate developer Risland Holdings, a Hong Kong-based multinational real estate conglomerate with residential developments, commercial real estate operations, property management, infrastructure and construction operations in many countries around the world.

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The other company, Greenland Australia, is a subsidiary of the Greenland Group, which was founded in Shanghai in 1992 and manages projects in over 100 cities in nine countries.

The Greenland Group sourced 3 million protective masks, 700,000 hazmat suits and 500,000 pairs of protective gloves from several countries including Australia, according to Australian media reports.

Other items included thermometers. All were bought in bulk and shipped to Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak on the Chinese mainland and the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on March 26 that an employee of the company said the collection of the medical supplies was a global effort by the Greenland Group, which has extensive operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Australia.

The employee said instructions were given to the group to source “bulk supplies of surgical masks, thermometers, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizers, gloves and Panadol (cold and flu medication) for shipping”.

“Basically, all employees, the majority of whom are Chinese, were asked to source whatever medical supplies they could,” the employee said.

According to the report, the humanitarian operation was carried out throughout January and February.