Xi unwilling to accept Western vaccines despite protests: US
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is not ready to accept Western vaccines despite the challenges China is facing currently with COVID-19.
Although China’s daily COVID cases are increasing all-time highs, some cities are taking steps regarding tests and quarantine rules after Xi’s zero-COVID policy triggered a sharp economic slowdown and public unrest.
Haines, speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California that , “Xi is unwilling to take a better vaccine from the West, and is instead relying on a vaccine in China that’s just not nearly as effective against Omicron.” He said that despite the social and economic impact of the virus.
“Seeing protests and the response to it is countering the narrative that he likes to put forward, which is that China is so much more effective at government,” Haines said.
“It’s, again, not something we see as being a threat to stability at this moment, or regime change or anything like that,” she said, while adding: “How it develops will be important to Xi’s standing.”
China has not approved any foreign COVID vaccines, opting for those produced domestically, which are not as effective as some foreign ones according to some studies. That means easing virus prevention measures could come with big risks, according to experts.
The White House said earlier in the week that China had not asked the United States for vaccines.
One U.S. official told Reuters there was “no expectation at present that China would approve western vaccines.”
“It seems fairly far-fetched that China would greenlight Western vaccines at this point. It’s a matter of national pride, and they’d have to swallow quite a bit of it if they went this route,” the official said.
Xi unwilling to accept Western vaccines despite protests: US
Haines also said North Korea recognized that China was less likely to hold it accountable for what she said was Pyongyang’s “extraordinary” number of weapons tests this year.
Amid a record year for missile tests, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last week his country intends to have the world’s most powerful nuclear force.
Speaking on a later panel, Admiral John Aquilino, the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said China had no motivation to restrain any country, including North Korea, that was generating problems for the United States.
