China’s Xi rejects ‘Cold War mentality’, promotes cooperation – Orange County Register

By JAMEY KEATEN

GENEVA (AP) – China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday called for more world cooperation against COVID-19 and said China would send 1 billion more doses of the vaccine to other countries, and urged called other powers off the “Cold War mentality” at a time of rising geopolitical tensions — a slight swipe at the United States.

The Chinese leader touted his country’s efforts in sharing vaccines, fighting climate change and promoting development at home and abroad as he opened the virtual meeting hosted by the China Economic Forum. Organized by World Economy. The online event is being held in lieu of the annual January meeting in Davos, Switzerland, because of health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.

A global outbreak that has claimed the lives of more than 5.5 million people and decimated the world economy is another topic. During a virus panel session, Moderna’s CEO said the vaccine maker was working on a booster shot for both COVID-19 and influenza, while the US infectious diseases specialist Ky, Dr. Anthony Fauci, lamented it was “very disturbing” because of the reluctance of many people. Americans follow basic measures like wearing masks and getting vaccinated.

“This is a formidable virus, noting the difficulty of achieving herd immunity to COVID-19 because immunity tends to fade, even after vaccination,” said Fauci. . “You give the virus an advantage when you don’t consistently implement all the very well-recognized public health measures, especially vaccines.”

Xi, who has not left China since the coronavirus emerged in early 2020, in his speech said China had exported more than 2 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to more than 120 countries. and international organisations. He announced plans to provide an additional 1 billion – including funding 600 million doses for Africa and an additional 150 million for Southeast Asia.

By comparison, the managers of the United Nations-supported COVAX program to ship vaccines to developing countries over the weekend announced that they had now delivered 1 billion doses of the vaccine.

Mr. Xi covered standard topics from previous talks with international audiences, including responding to complaints from trading partners by promising to expand the state-run economy. China’s position on private and foreign competition.

His comments come as tensions between the United States and China are simmering over topics such as Taiwan, intellectual property, trade, human rights and the South China Sea.

“We need to get rid of the Cold War mentality and seek peaceful coexistence and win-win outcomes. Our world today is far from peaceful,” said Xi, through an interpreter. “Protectionism and unilateralism cannot protect anyone. They end up harming the interests of others as well as their own. Worse are the activities of hegemony and bullying, against the flow of history.

He added: “A zero-sum approach that increases one’s own gain by doing other’s will not be helpful. “The right way forward for humanity is peaceful development and mutually beneficial cooperation.”

Mr. Xi said China was “ready to work with” other governments on climate issues, but did not announce new initiatives and did not provide resources. The supply of money and technology is up to developed countries, he said.

After Mr. Xi spoke, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said during a session on the future of COVID-19 that he hoped the US-based company would have a booster vaccine. combined ready for testing in advanced research in the second quarter, this is a best-case scenario. That would be if the single shot that covers both the flu and COVID-19 will be ready for use next year.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen in every country, but we believe it could happen in some countries over the next year,” Bancel said.

Moderna has been heavily criticized for prioritizing the distribution of its COVID-19 vaccine to rich countries; only a small part of its supply is delivered to poor countries through COVAX. He said the company is aiming to produce about 2-3 billion doses this year and hopes to have data from a new vaccine tailored to address the omicron variant by March.

The annual gathering in Davos, which usually takes place in person in the Alpine snowy regions of eastern Switzerland, attracts hundreds of business, cultural, academic and government leaders. The leaders of countries such as Germany, Colombia and Japan were prepared to address the meeting that lasted until Friday.

Late on Monday were speeches by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as well as a panel on technology cooperation.

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Associated Press Business writer Joe McDonald in Beijing and AP Medical writer Maria Cheng in Toronto contributed to this report.