President Rodrigo Duterte said he intends to visit Chinese President Xi Jinping to personally thank him for the donated doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac.
In a short program on Sunday during the arrival of the 600,000 doses of Sinovac at the Villamore Air Base in Pasay City, Duterte said he will shake hands and make the visit at the end of the year.
During a press briefing, Duterte was asked by a Chinese reporter on some details of his planned visit.
He bared that he first wanted to visit Xiamen to personally see the building named after his mother.
He shared that his mother was among the first educators in a Chinese school in Davao.
After they transferred to Davao, his mother was employed by a Davao Chinese School.
Then he would go to Beijing to visit President Xi.
“I wanted it to do personal because China has been good and the way that they’re helping us now, I suppose a debt of gratitude should be paid by a personal visit,” Duterte said.
The president led administration officials in personally welcoming the arrival of the vaccines on Sunday.
In his speech, Duterte thanked the Chinese government for going the extra mile by having a military plane delivered the donated vaccine doses unlike in other countries where they have to fetch the vaccines on their own.
Meanwhile, Duterte also reiterated the call for the international community to make the COVID-19 vaccines a “global public good” that are accessible to all regardless of social status.
“Comprehensive global recovery hinges on the equal and easy access by everyone to life-saving vaccines,” he said.
“Countries must therefore continue to working together and do everything humanly possible to ensure a good outcome of every person.” (ES)
