Despite pressure from civil protests, Xi Jinping is reluctant to accept vaccines from Western countries

The head of the Chinese government, Xi JinpingNot ready to accept Western vaccines Despite the challenges China Face with him COVID-19, And while recent protests may affect his personal status, The US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes.

Even as China’s daily COVID cases hit an all-time high, some cities are taking steps to ease testing and quarantine rules after the coronavirus policy. Covid Zero Xi has fueled a sharp economic slowdown and public unrest.

Haynes said in California at the annual Reagan National Security Forum Despite the social and economic impact of the virus, Xi “doesn’t want to take a better vaccine from the West and instead rely on a vaccine from China that is nowhere near effective against Omicron.”

“Looking at the objections and the response to them Opposes the story He wants to present, which means that China is more effective in government,” Haynes said.

“This is, again, not something we see A threat to stability Now, or regime change or something,” he added: “How that develops is crucial to Xi’s position.”.

China does not approve any foreign vaccine against COVID, opting for domestically produced ones, which according to some studies are not as effective as some foreign vaccines. According to experts, this means that loosening anti-virus measures could bring huge risks.

The White House said earlier last week that China had not requested vaccines from the United States.

A US official said Reuters “There is currently no expectation” that China will approve Western vaccines.

“Looks beautiful China is unlikely to green-light Western vaccines Right now. This is A matter of national prideAnd if they go down this path they will have to swallow a bit,” the official said.

Hines also said North Korea recognized that China was unlikely to take responsibility for what he called an “extraordinary” number of weapons tests by Pyongyang this year.

Amid a record year of missile tests, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last week that his country has the world’s most powerful nuclear force.

Later in a panel, Admiral John Aquilino, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said China has no motivation to deter any country, including North Korea, that causes problems for the US.

“I would say it’s in their strategy to push those issues,” Aquilino said of China.

He added that China has considerable leverage to pressure North Korea over its weapons tests, but is not confident that Beijing will “do anything useful to stabilize the region.”

(With information from Reuters/By Michael Martina and David Brunstrom)

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