Washington, April 8 (CNA) United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thanked Taiwan Wednesday for its pledge to donate 2 million surgical face masks to his country and praised it as a global model for combating the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

"During tough times, real friends stick together. The U.S. is thankful to Taiwan for donating 2 million face masks to support our healthcare workers on the frontlines. Your openness and generosity in the battle against COVID-19 is a model for the world," Pompeo tweeted.

On April 1, President Tsai Ing-wen announced that Taiwan will donate 10 million surgical masks to its international partners. The donation will allocate 2 million to the U.S., 7 million to European countries and 1 million to Taiwan's diplomatic allies, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

Taiwan is also providing the U.S. with 100,000 masks per week under a bilateral epidemic prevention cooperation agreement, MOFA said.

Responding to Pompeo on Twitter, Taiwan's foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said that "Taiwan is proud to support frontline medical workers across the U.S. We stand together as friends, partners and fellow democracies in the fight against the coronavirus."

The U.S. has been hard hit by the virus in recent weeks, with 430,000 cases and 14,768 deaths reported as of Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.