Duterte seeks Chinese coronavirus vaccine, rules out US bases in Philippines

Name: Duterte tells Philippines he asked China for coronavirus vaccine, diplomacy in maritime dispute
Uploaded: 2020-07-27T15:03:22.000Z
Duration: 3 min 9 s
Description: Duterte tells Philippines he asked China for coronavirus vaccine, diplomacy in maritime dispute

‘I made a plea to Xi Jinping. Can we be one of the first to have it … or can we buy it?’ says Duterte in State of the Nation Address

He rules out confronting Beijing in the South China Sea as ‘[China is] in possession of the property’

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivers his State of the Nation Address. Photo: AP

Raissa Robles,Alan RoblesandBloomberg

Published: 11:03pm, 27 Jul 2020Updated: 2:22pm, 28 Jul 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte told lawmakers on Monday he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help the Philippines get priority access to a Covid-19 vaccine, as the country struggles with the coronavirus pandemic that has battered the economy.

In his annual State of the Nation Address, Duterte said: “Four days ago I made a plea to Xi Jinping. Can we be one of the first to have it … or can we buy it?”

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Duterte tells Philippines he asked China for coronavirus vaccine, diplomacy in maritime dispute

Infections in the Philippines rose to 82,040 on Monday with 1,945 dead, while just over 26,000 people have recovered. It has the second-highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia.

While Duterte, who spoke for more than 90 minutes, asked banks and property companies to help small businesses, and sought their help to revitalise his 8 trillion peso (US$162.44 billion) infrastructure programme, he did not outline the government’s strategy to bring infections down or to increase contact tracing.

Protesters march along an avenue of the University of the Philippines ahead of President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address. Photo: EPA-EFE

He said only that there were now 93 accredited testing laboratories and the government was aiming to conduct 1.4 million tests by this Friday. A Department of Health bulletin showed labs had conducted 1.14 million tests as of July 19.