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China’s top diplomat visits Indonesia as it rolls out Chinese-made vaccine
Chinese State Counsellor Wang Yi is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Tuesday, before paying a courtesy visit to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
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Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi greets her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (right) on the sidelines of the 14th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) ministerial in Madrid, Spain in 2019. (Courtesy of/Foreign Ministry)
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hina’s top diplomat Wang Yi is stopping over in Indonesia on his tour of Southeast Asia this week, which coincides with the start of the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination roll-out that will feature a newly approved Chinese-made vaccine.
The visit is expected to relieve recurrent tensions between the two countries.
Indonesian officials confirmed that Wang Yi’s visit would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that he was expected to meet Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
The President is on course to become the first non-Chinese leader to be inoculated on Wednesday with Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac vaccine, which obtained emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) on Monday.
With the long-awaited approval, Indonesia can finally go ahead with its planned mass vaccination program, having obtained approval from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) on the vaccine’s halal status last week.
Jokowi’s vaccination will set off a months-long immunization drive that begins with around 1.3 million health workers.
The government has already received 3 million doses of the ready-to-use vaccine made in China and has distributed them to regions across the country. It has secured vaccine pre-orders from other foreign producers as well.
