Although the number of new infections has reached an all-time high and the population is protesting massively against the strict corona measures, Chinese President Xi Jinping is “still not ready to accept Western corona vaccines”. The US intelligence services report this.
The protests of the Chinese population seem to be yielding something: to counter the economic slowdown caused by the very strict lockdowns, more and more cities are starting to relax the corona measures.
But even though his country is facing a record number of new infections, Chinese President Xi Jinping is still unwilling to exchange the less effective Chinese Sinovac vaccine for the more effective syringes from Pfizer and Moderna, among others. Avril Haines, director of the US intelligence services, said on Saturday. “The president continues to rely on a vaccine that doesn’t work nearly as well, especially against the omicron variant.”
“Of course, Xi doesn’t like the protests and the response to them,” Haines continues. “They contradict the story he would like to put forward: that the Chinese approach is much more efficient.”
Although the protests make a dent in the president’s image, according to Haines, the protests do not pose a “threat to the stability of the country” for the time being. “It’s not like regime change is imminent,” she said. “Although, of course, a lot depends on how things evolve locally.”