MANILA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese business companies have stood firmly behind the Philippines in the fight against COVID-19, donating nearly 10 million pesos (197,078 U.S. dollars) and nearly 3 million pieces of much-needed medical supplies to stop the spread of the epidemic, China's Ambassador Huang Xilian said.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Chinese firms have donated 2.65 million medical masks, 250,000 pieces of protective suits, gloves, and goggles to the Philippines, according to Huang.

He said major donors include the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), Bank of China, Panhua Group, China Information Communication Technology Group, Power Construction Corporation of China, China Road and Bridge Corporation, China Railway Design Corporation, China Geo-Engineering Corporation, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, China Energy Engineering Corporation and Qingjian Group.

Ambassador Huang added that the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, co-owned by SGCC, also donated 1 billion pesos (about 19.7 million U.S. dollars) to the Philippine government.

Moreover, he said Dito Telecommunity, co-owned by China Telecom, provided 375,000 kilos of rice to Philippine local governments.

Huang said Zhejiang Dahua Technology offered a thermal temperature monitoring solution. Huawei provided technical support for diagnosis and treatment system using remote CT scans in Baguio General Hospital Medical Center, he added.

Chinese multinational corporations have also joined the humanitarian campaign, Huang said.

These corporations include Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation which donated 107,000 test kits and 500,000 medical masks, TikTok which contributed a million U.S. dollars to the Philippine General Hospital Medical Foundation and the 51talk sent medical supplies worth 5.25 million pesos (about 103,387 U.S. dollars) to the Philippines.

The ambassador said the Chinese reagents and testing equipment manufacturers, such as Sansure Biotech Inc. and Beijing Genomics Institute Group, also responded timely to the demand of the Philippines to ensure sufficient supplies.

Huang said these manufacturers also dispatched professional teams to the Philippines to provide personnel training and technical support, and helped the Philippines to expand its COVID-19 testing capacity.

"In light of the urgent need of medical supplies in the Philippines, Chinese manufacturers have prioritized the requests and orders from the Philippines and exported huge amounts of medicines and medical equipment to the Philippines, overcoming a lot of unexpected difficulties," Huang said.

"The pandemic is a common enemy of mankind. Solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons (to combat the epidemic)," he said.

Huang said the global pandemic has strengthened the partnership between China and the Philippines to mount a collective response to defeat the viral disease.

"China will stand firmly with the Philippine people till the day of final victory," Huang said, adding that Chinese enterprises "will continue to contribute to the new era partnership evolving between the two countries."