Of all the developing countries testing China’s Covid-19 vaccines, few are friendlier to Beijing than Pakistan. In the years leading up to the pandemic, China financed nearly $70 billion across the South Asian nation on roads, railways and power stations, and Pakistan now has two Chinese clinical trials underway, with even senior government officials being inoculated. Yet interviews with people in Karachi, the nation’s biggest city as well as in other developing nations from Indonesia to Brazil, together with surveys and official comments show that China has failed to assure the millions of people who may have to rely on its vaccines.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a tweet on Monday that Chinese-made vaccines may be the “only choice” for governments that haven’t secured supplies since “wealthy countries” had booked three quarters of the estimated 12 billion vaccines set for production next year. He separately told a briefing that the inactive Chinese vaccines can be distributed more widely than others using existing cold chain systems, and China would provide them to developing countries “on a priority basis including by donation and free aid.”
“We should stand against seeking self-interest at the expense of others or hoarding or monopolizing supplies,” Zhao said in Beijing. “In particular, we must reject vaccine nationalism.”
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
(Reuters) -China’s imports of copper concentrate from Australia plunged for a second month in November to the lowest since at least 2016, customs data showed on Saturday, as a bilateral trade dispute slams China’s demand for Australian supply of the commodity.
Arrivals of copper concentrate, or partially processed copper ore, from Australia into China, the world’s biggest copper consumer, were 26,717 tonnes last month, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs.
That was down 34% from October and down 77.8% from a year earlier, marking the lowest monthly total in records going back to January 2017.
US to back US$1 9 bil to replace telecom equipment from Huawei freemalaysiatoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from freemalaysiatoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Policymakers will also back $3.2bn for an emergency broadband benefit for low-income Americans, senior congressional aides confirmed.
The COVID-19 relief bill, the second-largest economic stimulus in US history following a $2.3 trillion aid bill passed in March, invests $7bn to increase access to broadband, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. The low-income programme, they said, will “help millions of students, families and unemployed workers afford the broadband they need during the pandemic”.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in June it had formally designated China’s Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp as threats, a declaration that bars US firms from tapping an $8.3bn government fund to buy equipment from the companies.