Photo: VCG.

Chinese voice recognition giant iFlyTek said on Monday that its application to the US Department of Commerce to purchase medical products from the US has been approved, a move that experts said shows goodwill from the US side by strengthening cooperation in combating the onslaught of the coronavirus, which has become a global enemy.

The purchase procedure is still under way, the company told the Global Times on Monday. The purchase list includes goggles, protective apparel, face masks and infrared thermometers, which were not allowed to be bought without approval as the tech giant was put onto the so-called Entity List last October with several other Chinese technology companies by the US government.

They were not allowed to purchase products and services from American companies since then. 

iFlyTek said the approved exemption is only focused on medical supplies - to be used for its own staff and donations - not related to other products. 

"The US' gesture in approving the purchase in two weeks shows it has realized the significance of strengthening global cooperation in dealing with the COVID-19, which for the US, has also posed a challenge," Dong Shaopeng, an adviser for the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told the Global Times on Monday.

Despite voices in the US that tend to make everything political, the US has shown its goodwill in tilting toward cooperation, based on which, bilateral trade is expected to improve this year following the phase one trade agreement signed in January, said Dong.

"It is also high time for some politicians in the US who tend to hold a cold war mindset to reflect," he added.

China's trade with the US, in particular imports of medical products and drugs, is forecast to be shored up for the whole year although the epidemic has had some impact on China's exports and imports in the short term, analysts said.

"Trade needs two parties' joint efforts to push ahead; if the US purposely sets limitations, it won't do any good to proceed," said Liu Ying, research fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.

China has the need to accelerate its pace and enhance the amount to import from the US, said Liu, adding that it is important at the moment to stabilize the fundamentals of the nation's foreign trade.

An official from the Commerce Ministry said Monday that the country will make efforts to prepare for the 3rd China International Import Expo in the second half of 2020 to expand its imports amid work to prevent the coronavirus.

"Apart from iFlyTek, more Chinese firms should be granted the green light to import from the US especially for medical products at this crucial moment," Liu noted.

A Chinese employee from the US medical device company Medtronic told the Global Times Monday that US medical equipment such as breathing machines and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) devices have witnesses a very fast speed of customs clearance lately. "It usually took one month for the process but now it only needs 24 hours," he said.

China on Friday released a list of tax-exempt goods from US imports that were slapped with tariffs in the trade war, paving the way for more purchases of US products amid the spread of COVID-19.

It is the first list of tax-exempt goods for the second batch of US imports that had been slapped with additional tariffs in retaliation for the US 301 investigation against China.