Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi urged the international community to come together and construct a “great wall of immunity” in a bid to battle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic globally. Yi insisted that a “wall of immunity” will also help deal with political discrimination and bring about a collective global response to the pandemic.
“The most urgent priority is to expedite the construction of the ‘Great Wall of Immunity’ to fend off the virus, surpass political discrimination and carry out international anti-pandemic cooperation.” Yi said, reported Reuters.
“We should face the imminent challenges together,” he added.
China has been facing intense scrutiny from the international community for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is believed to be the epicentre of the virus, has been the subject of intense scrutiny and with President Biden renewing an investigation into the ‘Lab leak theory’ , China has been left to battle the virus at home and abroad.
The US has been stringently questioning the lab’s safety and have levelled allegations against its scientists for engaging in a controversial gain of function research that manipulated viruses in a manner making them more dangerous.
Chinese President Xi Jinping in a defiant speech from atop Tiananmen Gate during the centenary celebration of the founding of the ruling Communist Party cautioned that anyone who tries to bully China “will face broken heads and bloodshed,”. China watchers have suggested that none other than the US is at the receiving end of Xi’s anger, for pushing issues of virus origin, and criticising the Communist Party’s technology policies, military expansion and human rights record.
China, which has administered about 19.47 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine domestically, till July 1, as per the national health bureau records, has been busy with vaccine diplomacy, sending shipments of its home grown vaccine to Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan, South Africa, supplying more than 480 million vaccine doses to other nations.
