Xi Brags About Setting Up APEC Fund To Fight COVID-19

China has financed the setup of a fund under APEC to fight COVID-19 and fuel economic recovery, President Xi Jinping claimed during a virtual meeting of the Asia-Pacific trade group late last week, according to Xinhua news agency.

Xi also said that China supported waiving the intellectual property rights on COVID vaccines and was willing to cooperate with other countries to ensure a stable and safe supply chain for vaccines.

China had provided more than 500 million vaccine doses to developing countries, Xi said. Both Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines have lower efficacy rates than those developed in the US and Europe.

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you," said Xi, citing a New Zealand Maori saying, according to Xinhua. "We have full confidence in humanity's victory over the pandemic through cooperation. We have full confidence in the prospects of world economic recovery. We have full confidence in a shared, bright future of humanity," Yew Lun Tian and Emily Chow reported for Reuters.

At a G20 health summit in May, Xi pledged an additional $3 billion in aid over the next three years to help developing countries recover from the pandemic.

On the topic of regional economic integration, Xi called for countries to build an open, fair, and unbiased environment for digital commerce. "We want to tear down walls, not build them; we want openness, not isolation; we want integration, not decoupling," Xi told world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden.

Xi said that China has finished ratifying the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free-trade bloc consisting of 15 Asia-Pacific economies but not the United States, and said he hoped the agreement could come into effect by the end of 2021.

WEEKLY FEATURE : PAL READY TO SOAR WITH PANDEMIC