By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ANKARA (AA) – China on Friday announced additional $3 billion in international aid to support global response to COVID-19 pandemic and socioeconomic recovery in developing countries.
China’s President Xi Jinping told the Global Health Summit hosted by Italy the monetary support will continue in next three years.
“Having already supplied 300 million doses of vaccines to the world, China will supply more vaccines to the best of its capability,” Xi told the livestreamed event.
China supports waiving off intellectual property rights of COVID-19 vaccines and “Beijing will support World Trade Organization to do so”, Xi added.
Emphasizing on making vaccines available for all and rejecting “vaccine nationalism”, the Chinese president said there is a need to “address both symptoms and root causes as we improve the governance system.”
“It is important to enhance our capacity of monitoring, early warning and emergency response. It is important to strengthen and leverage the role of the UN and World Health Organization [WHO] and uphold the spirit of extensive consultations, joint contribution and share benefits in COVID-19 response,” Xi said.
In April last year, amid raging COVID-19 pandemic, China announced to donate $30 million in cash to the WHO to support its global fight against the novel coronavirus.
On March 11 last year, Beijing had already donated $20 million to the world body on health.
The donations by China had come amid growing criticism of the global health body, led by former US President Donald Trump.
Trump had cut US financial support to the organization, grilling its ''late'' warnings against the coronavirus pandemic.
Deadly coronavirus was first reported in China’s central Wuhan city in December 2019 and has now spread across the world with over 165 million cases and over 34 million deaths reported so far, with the US and India the worst hit countries.
