China pushes “vaccine diplomacy” in Southeast Asia

China is using supplies of its Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine to boost its influence in Southeast Asia, which was the main focus of Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s tour in mid of January 2021.

“China wants to show that they are behind ASEAN countries as the vaccination stage of the pandemic approaches,” Aaron Jed Rabena, a research fellow at Manila-based think tank Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress.

Indonesia has a deal to receive about 230 million does of vaccine with Sinovac, Nocacax and WHO’s COVAX facility and government has received 3 million ready-to-use dose of Sinovac.

In Myanmar, Wang promised 300,00 dose of the Sinoca shots. The Chinese vaccine has also drawn attention in countries which Wang has not visited in this tour.

Source: Nikkei Asia #Jan16

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/China-pushes-vaccine-diplomacy-in-Southeast-Asia

#Covid19Vaccine #ChinaVaccineDiplomacy #China #CCP

Pompeo Reveal Researchers at Wuhan Institute of Virology Got Infected as Early as Fall 2019, urging WHO to Conduct Thorough Investigation.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, issued a statement yesterday (January 15) saying the U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) have developed the symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in the fall of 2019. The U.S. government stressed that a pandemic could have been avoided and that any responsible country would have invited World Health Organization (WHO) experts within days of the outbreak, but China refused offer of help. "Until the CCP allows a full and thorough accounting of what happened in Wuhan, it is only a matter of time until China births another pandemic and inflicts it on the Chinese people, and the world," he stated.

Pompeo issued a statement saying that a WHO investigation team arrived in China this week to trace the source of the outbreak. The U.S. government took the opportunity to share new information about WIV in 2019 and called on the WHO to conduct a thorough investigation into origin of COVID-19. He said the U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers from the institute have developed the same symptoms as COVID-19 in the fall of 2019.

The statement said the WIV had studied the bat virus strain RaTG13 as early as 2016, which was 96.2% similar to the COVID-19 virus identified by the Institute in January 2020. The U.S. government said the institute's work has lacked transparency since the outbreak and suspected it may have been involved in research that enhanced the virus' transmissibility and lethality.

Source: The Stand News #Jan16

#US #USSecretatyofState #MikePompeo #WuhanInstituteofVirology #WIV #COVID19 #WorldHealthOrganization #WHO

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