Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced a $1 billion loan to Latin America and the Caribbean for Covid-19 vaccine access during a virtual gathering with his Latin American counterparts on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry.
“China’s Foreign Minister said that the vaccine developed in his country will be a public benefit of universal access, and that his country will designate a loan of $1 billion to support access [to the vaccine] for the nations of the region,” the statement said. During a daily briefing on Thursday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador thanked China after the loan announcement.
“We’re very grateful to China, with the Chinese government, the President — you remember I had the chance to speak to him on the phone — we asked him for support with medical equipment, there have been many aid flights coming from China.” “There’s always been enough equipment supply, medicines, and now there is this offer,” he added.
The virtual meeting on Wednesday was led by Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, and Wang Yi. Their counterparts from Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay also joined. Ahead of the meeting, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in his daily briefing that during the pandemic, “China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, though oceans apart, have stood together against this common foe and conducted practical and effective cooperation to the benefit of all our people.” He said the meeting would “consolidate consensus between the two sides on jointly fighting the pandemic, cement political mutual trust, uphold multilateralism” and build a community with a shared future for the regions. Latin America became the epicenter of the global pandemic in late May.
A CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) data last week found that Latin America and the Caribbean had suffered more coronavirus deaths than the US and Canada — though the latter had still reported more deaths per capita. Brazil has the second-highest number of cases globally, after the US, with more than 2.2 million people infected, according to JHU figures. Chinese biotech company Sinovac has begun a Phase 3 vaccine trial in the country, alongside another Phase 3 trial by Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Peru, Chile and Mexico are also in the top ten countries for confirmed cases, while the virus is also spreading in Venezuela, where concerns have been raised over the country’s crippled healthcare system.
Governmental responses to the virus have differed radically across Latin America, however the region’s informal workforce and high levels of inequality are among the factors driving the widening outbreak. Coronavirus also has deepened the rift between the US and China, with the Trump administration repeatedly lashing out at China over its early response to the virus.
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This so called “loan offer” reeks of just more DEBT TRAP from China. Even an idiot should be able to work out that basically China is saying we, Latin America and the Caribbean take yet another horrendous way overpriced loan from us to buy your “very suspect” and most likely very untested vaccine. We, CCP/China, will send hundreds/thousands more of our agents to your countries to distribute same, set up Chinese businesses along with Chinese spies and propagandists and also we China get to rape and destroy your countries of whatever resources because the loans cannot be paid back. Africa is a good example to learn from.
The communist government of China knew that they were sending out the five million into the outside world to infect and kill us with the Wuhan virus and now that they have almost totally alienated the world China wants to offer yet another loan that we cannot pay to benefit ONLY their racist selves.
One can only hope that sense and sensibility will prevail above the bribery and corruption. China needs to stew in its home created viruses, falling apart dams creating killer floods, ensuing famine, failing banks, internment camps and live body parts business and the failure of Hong Kong from their illegal cruel repression. The list of atrocities to humans and animals is long and perhaps the CCP need to find some sort of peaceful religion to purge their souls and turn themselves into a free and democratic country they could be proud of instead of the apparent hellhole that China has become.
CHINA caused this epidemic and CHINA should pay for it, not us!!
Jeb, you took a page right out of Trumperism.
@Jeb…even though, what your saying makes sense, unfortunately, China is already well established in many parts of the World, and is already accomplishing many of her future goals, by physically controlling many parts of the World, as the next Super Power!
Where does Antigua fit in all of this?
THE LOANS ARE COMING.THEN WHEN YOU CANNOT REPAY.THEY WOULD COME INTO YOUR COUNTRY AND TAKE OVER THOSE ASSETS.BE CAREFUL OF THOSE CHINESE BEARING GIFTS AND LOANS.THEY SCREWED THEMSELVES AND THE WORLD WITH COVID-19.NOW THEY OFFERING LOANS.THEY KNEW THE SEVERITY OF THE VIRUS AND HID IT.THE W.H.O. WAS COMPLICIT IN MY OPINION.THEY CAME OUT WAY TOO LATE AND DECLARED IT A PANDEMIC.BECAUSE THE SPOKESMAN FOR W.H.O.FROM ETHIOPIA IS IN THE POCKETS OF CHINA.ETHIOPIA OWES CHINA US$ 12.1 BILLION.IN MY OPINION HE BROUGHT POLITICS INSIDE OF HIS DECISION MAKINGS.NOW THEY OFFERING LOANS.I SAY TO HELL WITH THEM AND THEIR LOANS.GASTON BROWNE,DO NOT BORROW ANY OF THOSE MONIES.THE NATION OWES CHINA ENOUGH ON LOANS.YOU CANNOT BORROW THE NATION OUT OF DEBT.BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU WOULD.DOES NOT MAKE IT SO.BECAUSE I SAY YOU CANNOT AND I AM NOT A BANKER.
So China wants to bribe Latin America and the Caribbean with a loan to buy their vaccine? Antigua is up to its eyeballs already in debt to the Chinese and I hope Gaston doesn’t fall for this. We know that he loves money but he has to think of the people of Antigua first. What do we know about this vaccine? I read that they tried a vaccine in China and the result was disastrous. Please Mr. PM, don’t allow your people to be lab rats for any experimental vaccine.
A good humanitarian gesture would be for China to provide FREE vaccine to all developing countries, once it is fully developed and proven.
A “good humanitarian gesture,” would be for China’s Government to come clean, on this PLANdemic!
Think of the billions, China is already making by supply a large percentage, of the PPE to the rest of the World, to deal with a problem which they helped, to exacerbate, and could careless, about the consequences!
I thought china giving the money for free, since covid started in there country.
China never gives cash loans. It appears they are trying to lend countries the money to buy their vaccines. Many countries in the world are trying to be the first to market a vaccine. The world said the virus started in China, so who is going to want to buy their vaccine? Antigua should stay away from this debt trap. You won’t be getting cash but Chinese vaccine. They will probably want to send their people to administer it. Any vaccine from China should be free considering the damage they have done to the world economies.
it’s called “bribe” and “extortion” in other places.
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