Chinese assistance aids battle in the US

"At first, when we tried to persuade the NGOs to assist Wuhan, we convinced them that helping Wuhan was helping China, and helping China was helping the United States, and helping the United States was helping the world," Wang said. "Now, it's time to help the United States, and our NGO partners continue to trust us.

"We do not just care about the Chinese or Chinese-Americans. When other Americans need us, we cannot say no. We say yes, absolutely yes, to helping them."

Noting that people have increasingly realized that the fight against COVID-19 is a global effort and that the battle is not easy, Wang said, "We must look after each other."

Lei Chen, who comes from Liaoning province and migrated to the US in 2005, also has deep connections with both countries.

Although his restaurants have either been closed or half-closed since the outbreak, Chen has been busy securing medical supplies.

In February, he shipped 40,000 N95 respirators to China. Last month, after seeing that many police officers and doctors in his neighborhood did not have PPE, he donated 20,000 surgical-grade masks, 100 protective suits, 300 bottles of hand sanitizers, 1,000 N95 respirators and two boxes of goggles.

"The other day, as I was driving past a police station, I stopped to give them the only two bottles of hand sanitizers I had in the car. They need them more than I do," he said.

Both Wang and Chen said their feelings had been hurt by Trump describing the outbreak as a "Chinese virus". However, both added that such comments failed to dent their desire to help others.

Wang said: "We want to focus on helping people, raising more money, delivering more medical resources and getting more PPE for the doctors. Whatever he (Trump) says, we still do what we believe is right."