Bookings for Covid-19 vaccinations in Hong Kong, especially for the Chinese-made Sinovac jab, have surged significantly on the back of a HK$10.8 million (US$1.4 million) flat lottery and the offer of doses to visitors from across the border. On Friday, more than 10,500 people reserved Sinovac slots - the highest since March 17 - while the 15,100 bookings for the BioNTech jab also marked a strong showing within a three-week span for the.
Ethiopia's recent decision to open its telecoms market saw a Chinese-backed bid for a mobile licence lose out to a consortium that had US support, but the east African country is likely to remain an important market for Chinese companies. Last weekend, a consortium backed by the US International Development Finance Corporation and UK sovereign investment fund CDC Group and led by Britain's Vodafone, Kenya's Safaricom, South Africa's Vodacom and.
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How Belarus’ brazen plane diversion reflects the EU’s struggle to act as a global power Illustration: Craig Stephens
Last Sunday, a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius (two EU capitals) was forced to land in Belarus on the pretext that there was a bomb on board. People on the plane were forced to disembark, the most noteworthy being an outspoken critic of the Lukashenko regime, the journalist Roman Protasevich. He is now in detention and faces an uncertain future.
Such an act is not unprecedented. The United States and its allies have a history of diverting foreign aircraft if they suspect people of interest are on board. For instance, in 2013, the plane of then Bolivian president Evo Morales was forced to land in Austria on suspicion that Edward Snowden was on board.
What do Hong Kong, Thailand and Russia have in common besides political dissent that has recently manifested in protest movements? Answer: mainland China was the largest source for tourism arrivals for each of them in 2019. The three destinations are far from being alone in having recorded considerable numbers of Chinese tourists crossing their borders before the coronavirus all but closed them, though, and they are not the only ones wondering.
Health experts have suggested selling millions of Hong Kong's unused Covid-19 vaccines or pausing the phased supply from manufacturers to minimise waste, as the government explores donating the shots while racing against looming expiry dates. Nearly 4 million jabs from Chinese producer Sinovac and Germany's BioNTech have arrived in the city since February, but about 2 million of them are still languishing in storage amid a sluggish inoculation.