TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo have exchanged words of encouragement as both countries are facing the threats of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Let’s win this battle with joined hands!” Tsai tweeted, addressing the people of Japan on Tuesday evening (April 7). The country has overcome earthquakes and typhoons in the past with the assistance of Taiwan, said Tsai, adding that the two countries would once again win the battle against the virus together.

The president’s tweet came hours after the Japanese prime minister had declared a state of emergency in seven major cities and prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, Chiba, and Kanagawa. The country has seen a surge of coronavirus infections since the end of March and confirmed cases have climbed to over 4,000 as of Wednesday (April 8).

In response, Abe retweeted Tsai’s message and expressed gratitude to Taiwanese friends for their affable encouragement and support. “We will surely win the battle against the virus and overcome the adversity together”, wrote the prime minister, who went on to say that Japan and Taiwan would fight together.

The Japanese representative to Taiwan, Hiroyasu Izumi, also took to Facebook to praise the “Taiwan model,” which successfully stemmed the spread of coronavirus on the island nation. He noted that Taiwan’s handling of the virus both protected the country from the virus and contributed to the global fight against the pandemic.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has said it is planning a second batch of donations to countries facing a shortage of surgical masks. The ministry has been in talks with a number of Southeast Asian nations about offering more than one million masks to them, said Ger Baushuan (葛葆萱), a senior official handling East Asian affairs on Tuesday morning.

Ger added that even though the Japanese authorities had not requested face masks from Taiwan, the country would consider making donations to Japan as the outbreak in the country becomes increasingly severe. At the beginning of April, Taiwan pledged to donate 10 million masks to Europe and the U.S., where the pandemic has hit the hardest since the virus spread from China in February.