China role model for vaccine cooperation

During his visit to Singapore on Tuesday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that in the “war without smoke” against the novel coronavirus, China has always shouldered its responsibilities, cooperated with the international community on all fronts, and done “five firsts”.

Namely, it was the first country to share information on infections and its anti-virus experience with all parties, the first to provide other countries with large batches of anti-pandemic supplies, the first to provide developing countries with large-scale vaccine assistance, the first to send medical expert teams to foreign countries, and the first to propose the building of a global community of health for all.

These “five firsts”, concrete actions in the global fight against COVID-19, show that China does not make empty promises and highlight its resolve to stand shoulder to shoulder with the international community in this time of crisis.

China has so far provided over 100 countries and regions and the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access program, or COVAX, with more than 1.1 billion doses of vaccines and stock solution, making it the largest vaccine supplier in the world. And, as planned, the number will reach 2 billion by the end of the year.

And as Wang said, there have never been any political conditions attached to such cooperation. China has no geopolitical or strategic intentions in pursuing international cooperation in the fight against the virus, nor is it seeking any economic interests.

Moreover, China has built or is building vaccine stock filling bases and local vaccine production centers in a total of 15 countries on different continents, which will play a key role in helping those countries and their neighbors to tame the virus at an early date.

In the country’s latest pledge of help, at the 13th BRICS Summit last week, President Xi Jinping announced that China will donate another 100 million doses of vaccines to developing countries this year, apart from donating $100 million to COVAX.

These actions serve to drive home China’s firm determination to work with all parties to overcome the challenge of COVID-19 and its solid actions to promote equitable access to vaccines.

In keeping with its solemn commitment to make the COVID-19 vaccines global public goods, China has provided vaccines and relevant technical support to countries, making important contributions to the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries in particular.

In so doing, China has set an example for other big countries on what they should do to help the world overcome the global vaccine “distribution deficit”, and build a global immune barrier.