ALMOST 60,000 face masks and items of PPE were donated by Chinese authorities to Stormont in the months before Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill allegedly endorsed Hong Kong's draconian security laws.
The scale of the donations emerge as the first and deputy first ministers continue to resist calls to publish Stormont's official record of their conversation in July with Belfast's Chinese consul general.
A report by the consulate claimed the ministers had said they "understand and respect" the controversial legislation imposed by China, The Irish News revealed last month.
The Executive Office (TEO) did not initially deny the claim, instead only confirming a "courtesy call" took place.
As pressure mounted, it subsequently said this did not reflect the ministers' comments during the video call. The report on the consulate's website was later changed to remove the controversial statement.
DUP leader Mrs Foster tweeted that her position on Hong Kong was the same as the British government, while Sinn Féin vice-president Ms O'Neill said she "made it very clear that I supported the 'One Country, Two Systems' international agreement".
TEO has since refused to release the minutes, claiming their publication would harm relations with China.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, ministers have been liaising with Chinese authorities in a bid to secure personal protective equipment (PPE) for the north's health workers.
The extent of the donations received are revealed in a Freedom of Information (FOI) response to The Irish News.
In April, Belfast's Chinese Consulate donated 20,000 face masks.
In May, the Confucius Institute – a Chinese government-backed university partnership programme – donated 400 '3M protective masks', 6,000 surgical face masks, 5,000 gloves and 30 protective bodysuits.
In the same month 2,000 face masks were donated by the Liaoning provincial government and a further 2,000 from the Anshan city government.
In July, Belfast's Chinese Consulate donated 25 'SARS-Cov-2 antibody testing kits' and 20,000 face masks.
The same month also saw the Vietnam Embassy in London donate 20,000 face masks.
In its FOI response, TEO said this list relates to items "received solely by the Executive Office as the department does not hold information relating to donations received by other executive ministers and their departments".
Mrs Foster and Ms O'Neill had their controversial conference call with Belfast's Chinese consul general Madame Zhang Meifang on July 21.
For years, Stormont and other Northern Ireland institutions have worked to develop links with China, including the executive setting up a trade bureau in Beijing in 2014.
China's new security laws on Hong Kong have sparked protests and have been internationally condemned as a brutal crackdown on human rights.
It led last month to the arrest of a Hong Kong newspaper owner and other pro-democracy and media figures.
Last month leading Hong Kong pro-democracy activist in Joshua Wong said it would be worrying if Stormont "chooses to turn a blind eye" in exchange for "more economic ties with China in business and education".
He described the Stormont ministers' alleged comments as "unbelievably scandalous" and urged the executive to "clarify its stance and stand up for the liberal values that the world cherishes".
British foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said the Hong Kong legislation "constitutes a clear and serious breach" of the Joint Declaration between the UK and China of 1984.
The Chinese government has also been vilified for the internment of an estimated one million Uighur Muslims in northwest China in so-called 're-education' camps.
