March 16, 2021 - Epoch Times
04:26
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| Time | Text |
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| The International Olympic Committee announced on March 11 that it has agreed to purchase China's COVID-19 vaccine to administer to willing participants of the Tokyo Olympics this summer and the Beijing Winter Olympics next year. | |
| Japanese Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa responded on the following day, saying, That Japan had not been consulted by the IOC about the Chinese vaccines. | |
| Team Japan will not take them, she said, and the vaccines have not been approved for use in Japan. | |
| Two Olympic events will be held in the next eight months, the postponed Tokyo Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. | |
| The IOC has said it will pay for Chinese vaccines for the teams participating in the Olympic Games, but didn't give any information regarding the cost or quantity. | |
| There are about 11,000 athletes participating in the Summer Olympics, not including their coaches, media, volunteers and officials. | |
| IOC President Thomas Bach said that China had promised it would provide as many vaccines as needed. | |
| The Chinese regime made the vaccine offer to the IOC amidst international calls for boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics on the ground of its genocidal campaign against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang region. | |
| The United States has designated the persecution of Uyghurs as genocide by the Chinese Communist Party, CCP. More than 100 international human rights organizations and many politicians in the Western countries have also called upon countries around the world to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics. | |
| China has been actively pushing efforts of vaccine diplomacy using doses made by Chinese companies Sinovac and Sinopharm. | |
| During the regime's annual two-sessions political meetings earlier this month, a government spokesperson announced that China has already provided COVID-19 vaccines to more than 60 countries. | |
| But critics say the CCP is attempting to whitewash its cover-up at the start of the pandemic that led to the virus spreading all over the world. | |
| Recently, European Council President Charles Michel accused China of running highly limited but widely publicized vaccine programs worldwide for propaganda purposes. | |
| Professor Stephen Tsang, Director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said that China practices vaccine diplomacy to strengthen its soft power and gain support from less well-off countries. | |
| These countries are unable to secure vaccines from reputable Western vaccine producers for the time being. | |
| Dr. | |
| Chung Kim-hwa, deputy CEO of Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, said in an interview with Voice of America, That Beijing hoped to be the first to develop a COVID-19 vaccine in order to shift negative perceptions towards the CCP after it allowed for the virus to spread around the world. | |
| Zhang added that as the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine has not completed phase 3 testing, no Western countries will approve it for use. | |
| According to media reports, three people recently died in Hong Kong after receiving a Sinovac vaccine, and another three people were rushed to the emergency room. | |
| Michel also pointed out that the rate of China's own vaccinations is only half that of EU countries. | |
| The low willingness of Chinese people to get vaccinated has caused concern in the international community. | |
| According to the figures disclosed by Chinese experts during the two-sessions meeting, the vaccination rate in China is 3.8%, which is much lower than the United States, Israel and other countries. | |
| Chinese nationals have witnessed numerous vaccine and counterfeit drug scandals in recent years, making them highly sceptical about the safety and efficacy of Chinese-made vaccines. | |
| The IOC's vice president, John Coates, said on March 12th that the IOC was not requiring athletes to be vaccinated, but does encourage it. | |
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