Xi Jinping ‘unwilling to take better vaccine from the West’, US intel says

Covid In China: Xi Jinping “is unwilling to take a better vaccine from the West and is instead relying on a vaccine in China," US intel said.

Xi Jinping will not allow Western vaccines to be used in China, US director of national intelligence Avril Haines said pointing to the Chinese president’s reliance on the country’s indigenous Sinovac vaccine.

Covid Protests In China: Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen. (Reuters)

Xi Jinping “is unwilling to take a better vaccine from the West and is instead relying on a vaccine in China that’s just not nearly as effective against Omicron”, she said. The remarks come following widespread protests in China as the government faces an uphill task of curbing the spread of the disease.

Chinese citizens, fed up with three years of stringent lockdowns and other harsh measures, have won a temporary battle after the government softened its “zero-Covid” policy in some cities.

In Beijing and Shenzhen, some curbs were lifted during the weekend. Restrictions were eased earlier in the week in Guangzhou city as well.

“Seeing protests and the response to it is countering the narrative that he likes to put forward, which is that China is so much more effective at government,” Avril Haines added.

“It’s [protests], again, not something we see as being a threat to stability at this moment, or regime change or anything like that,” stated Avril Haines.

“How it develops will be important to Xi’s standing," she added.

Covid cases in China continue to rise as the country reported 35,775 cases from the past 24 hours, 31,607 of which were asymptomatic. Two Covid deaths were also reported from the Shandong and Sichuan provinces on the same day.