President Duterte thanked China for donating Sinopharm vaccine doses to the Philippines.
On Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte thanked China for donating Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Philippines.
During a virtual ceremony to mark the arrival of the Sinopharm vaccine doses, President Duterte asked Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian to relay his “deepest gratitude” to Chinese President Xi Jinping, citing the COVID-19 vaccine donation and other assistance in COVID-19 pandemic response demonstrated the strong ties between the Philippines and China.
China delivered 739,200 Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses Friday as part of the 1 million jab donation. The remaining vaccine doses were expected to arrive in the coming days.
According to President Duterte, the Philippines was receiving those life-saving vaccines with much gratitude and high hopes as the country continued the fight against COVID-19 and its variants.
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In addition, President Duterte was thankful for China’s different COVID-related assistance — including the donation of medical equipment and supplies to the Philippines.
China, according to President Duterte, also provided technical support to the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
President Duterte also said that those initiatives were a testament to the goodwill of the Chinese government and the deep strong relations between the two countries, adding that those additional vaccine doses will boost the country’s efforts to ramp up vaccination rollout and allow the country to soon achieve herd immunity.
Before wrapping up his remarks, President Duterte offered his thanks to Chinese President Xi Jinping and promised to stay “neutral” amidst the US-China rivalry.
“May I request His Excellency Ambassador Huang Xilian to convey to President Xi Jinping my deepest gratitude and many, many thanks for China’s attitude to us. That even though in these challenging times of geopolitics, Philippines will stay neutral and remain true to what we have guaranteed China at least during my term,” President Duterte said.
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