China’s first mRNA vaccine and port project in the Solomon Islands
News briefing for March 21, 2023
Here’s what else you need to know about China today:
Top story: TikTok might be banned in the U.S. Calls are growing in Washington to purge the popular Chinese-owned social media app from the country, over fears that the Chinese government might be able to access its users’ data. Can it survive? Scroll down for a summary or click through for the whole thing.
Putin got a lot of moral support, Xi got a lot of cheap oil and gas and a client state: That’s the main takeaway from the visit of Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 to Moswcow and his bromance with Vladimir Putin. Other headlines on the visit:
- Xi backs Putin on Ukraine but holds out on Russian gas pipeline / FT (paywall)
- Xi, Putin signal unity against U.S. in joint statement / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
- China, Russia Deepen Nuclear Concord That Has Pentagon on Edge / Bloomberg (paywall)
A Chinese state-owned company won the contract for the Solomon Islands port project amid Western fears about Beijing’s growing influence in the region. China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) was awarded the multimillion-dollar contract to upgrade the Honiara port project, funded by the Asian Development Bank, after being the sole bidder in a competitive tender.
China’s first homegrown mRNA vaccine has been approved in a key step to battle the spread of the virus since lifting its strict COVID-zero policy. The shot, made by CSPC Pharmaceutical, has been cleared by regulators for emergency use, filling the missing gap in gene-based technology due to Beijing’s reluctance to approve Western drugs and vaccines.
