As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread in Japan since March, Southwest China's Guizhou province recently delivered medical materials consisting of face masks and medical gloves to Saga Prefecture.
In the beginning of this year, Yoshinori Yamaguchi, governor of Saga Prefecture, donated over 20,000 face masks to help Guizhou fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.
According to Saga's local media, an official at Saga government said that helping each other during difficult times is the reason that Guizhou and Saga has been able maintain their friendship for over 20 years.
Guizhou and Saga established a friendly relationship in 1998 based on agricultural technology talent exchanges.
In 2012, which marked the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, Guizhou and Saga signed a memorandum of friendship.
During the past few years, Guizhou and Saga has carried out exchanges in culture, tourism, agriculture, and sports. In September 2018, officials of Guizhou’s provincial government visited Saga, while in November 2019, Saga's governor paid a visit to Guizhou.