The Chinese Commerce Ministry addressed some key issues relating to COVID-19 on Thursday, including the recall of masks and the disruption of automobile production.

In response to recent media reports that 600,000 made-in-China facial masks purchased by the Dutch government have been recalled due to "quality issues," the ministry said that the masks sold to the Netherlands are for personal protection rather than medical purposes. The Chinese company is said to have already made this clear to the buyer during the purchase. The ministry said that non-medical masks cannot be used for medical purposes, nor by medical staff working in intensive care units.

"Foreign buyers should purchase from Chinese companies with government-issued registration certificates, and make sure that the products are strictly used for their intended purposes, while following the proper procedures. If there is a problem during purchase or when the products are being used, the two sides should handle the issue by following commercialized principles," said Liu Changyu, senior official with the Commerce Ministry.

The commerce ministry also addressed another concern regarding the outbreak's impact on China's automobile productions. Since the epidemic, some factories in this industry in the U.S. and Europe have paused their production. There is a concern that Chinese automobile industry is facing the risk of losing the supply of some automobile parts, which could further cause the discontinuation of production in China.

"China is a major manufacturing country of automobiles and an important producer of automobile parts and raw materials, with a large amount of trade in automobiles and their parts. Therefore, the overseas pandemic's impact on China's trade of vehicles and their parts, and the operation of supply chain of them is inevitable," said Liu Changyu.

But he added that China's production of vehicles and their parts have resumed in a comprehensive way, so the pressure on the supply chain has had some relief. The central government has issued new policies to stimulate the consumption of automobiles and alleviate the outbreak's impact on this industry.

Liu added that the ministry will monitor problems in the automobile supply chain. It will help these Chinese companies to closely watch their overseas suppliers' production, increase Chinese companies' orders and inventory, and make back-up plans. Meanwhile, the government is going to streamline import and export procedures to ensure the consistent flow of core vehicle parts, raw materials and equipment to go in and out of customs in a smooth way.