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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 8 March 2022
China calls Russia its chief ‘strategic partner’ despite war

By KEN MORITSUGU failed to tell the Chinese
BEIJING (AP) — China’s for- leader his plans before their
eign minister on Monday February statement.
called Russia his country’s Along with denouncing
“most important strategic trade and financial sanc-
partner” as Beijing contin- tions on Moscow, Beijing
ues to refuse to condemn says Washington is to blame
the invasion of Ukraine for the conflict for failing to
despite growing pressure take Russia’s security con-
from the U.S. and European cerns into consideration.
Union to use its influence to During an hour-long phone
rein Moscow in. conversation with U.S.
Wang Yi said Chinese ties Secretary of State Antony
with Moscow constitute Blinken on Saturday, Wang
“one of the most crucial said China opposes any
bilateral relationships in the moves that “add fuel to the
world.” flames” in Ukraine.
China has broken with the Wang said China hopes
U.S., Europe and others that the fighting will stop as
have imposed sanctions soon as possible and called
on Russia after its invasion for negotiations to resolve
of Ukraine. Beijing has said the immediate crisis, as
sanctions create new issues well as talks on creating a
and threaten a political Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a remote video press conference held on the balanced European secu-
settlement of the conflict. sidelines of the annual meeting of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Monday, rity mechanism. He said the
“No matter how perilous March 7, 2022. Associated Press U.S. and Europe should pay
the international land- attention to the negative
scape, we will maintain ment was issued affirming However, Wang said Tai- foreign policies against the impact of NATO’s eastward
our strategic focus and “strong mutual support for wan was a “fundamentally liberal Western order and expansion on Russian secu-
promote the develop- the protection of their core different” issue from Ukraine their militaries have carried rity.
ment of a comprehensive interests.” because the island is “an out exercises together and On a visit to the Lithuanian
China-Russia partnership in Russia said it endorses Chi- inalienable part of China’s flown joint air patrols, as capital of Vilnius on Mon-
the new era,” Wang said na’s view of self-governing territory.” their relationship has taken day, Blinken said China’s
at a news conference on Taiwan as an “inalienable “Some people, while be- on the trappings of an in- actions were at odds with
the sidelines of the annual part of China, and oppos- ing vocal about the prin- formal alliance. Wang ac- its avowed support for sta-
meeting of China’s cere- es any forms of indepen- ciple of sovereignty on the cused the U.S. on Monday bility and “respecting sov-
monial parliament. dence of Taiwan,” while Ukraine issue, have kept of trying to create an Asian ereignty.”
“The friendship between China backed Russia in op- undermining China’s sov- version of NATO. Blinken was speaking at a
the two peoples is iron posing the further enlarge- ereignty and territorial in- Xi’s government has re- news conference with his
clad,” he added. ment of NATO. tegrity on the Taiwan ques- fused to criticize the Rus- Lithuanian counterpart,
Much attention has been Russia’s invasion of Ukraine tion. This is a blatant double sian invasion but tried to whose country has come
paid to a meeting between has drawn comparisons to standards,” Wang said in a distance itself from Putin’s under severe economic
Chinese leader Xi Jinping China’s own threat to in- less-than-subtle dig at Tai- war by calling for dialogue pressure from Beijing after it
and Russian President Vlad- vade Taiwan to bring what wan ally the U.S. and the respect of national agreed to allow Taiwan to
imir Putin in Beijing on Feb. it considers a wayward China and Russia have in- sovereignty. That prompt- open a de facto embassy
4, after which a joint state- province under its control. creasingly aligned their ed suggestions that Putin in Vilnius.q
Moderna signs with Kenya for first mRNA facility in Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — as 2023, subject to de- In October, Senegal and
Moderna signed a memo- mand,” the company said. Rwanda signed an agree-
randum of understanding The COVID-19 pandemic ment with BioNTech for the
with Kenya’s government highlighted the huge need construction of its first start-
on Monday for the drug- for vaccine manufacturing to-finish factories to make
maker’s first mRNA vaccine on the African continent, messenger RNA vaccines
manufacturing facility in Af- which remains the least- in Africa.
rica, the company said. vaccinated region in the The novel mRNA process
The goal is to produce up world against the corona- uses the genetic code for
to 500 million doses of vac- virus. the spike protein of the
cines a year for the African The continent relies on im- coronavirus and is thought
continent, Moderna said in ports for about 99% of its to trigger a better immune
a statement. The focus is on vaccine needs, the World response than traditional
drug substance manufac- Health Organization has vaccines.
turing, it said, though the said. Scientists hope the technol-
facility could be expand- Frustrated by richer nations’ ogy, which is easier to scale
ed to include fill-and-finish vaccine hoarding, African up than traditional vaccine

An airport worker stands next to boxes of Moderna coronavirus work. leaders joined together to methods, might ultimately
vaccine, donated by the U.S. government via the COVAX “In parallel, Moderna is also pursue the goal of bringing be used to make vaccines
facility, after their arrival at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya on Aug. working on plans to allow it more vaccine manufactur- against other diseases, in-
23, 2021. to fill doses of its COVID-19 ing to the continent of 1.3 cluding malaria.q
Associated Press vaccine in Africa as early billion people.