Malacañang said Wednesday President Rodrigo Duterte might visit China this year or before his term ends to personally thank Chinese President Xi Jinping for the 600,000 doses of Sinovac-made CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccines donated to the Philippines.
The Chinese government donated 600,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine to the Philippines and the President wants to personally thank President Xi Jinping for the Sinovac Biotech vaccines which arrived last Sunday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the President might visit China at the end of the year when everything had settled down.
It was not yet clear whether this year or in 2022 but Roque said Duterte intended to make a short visit to China to just shake hands with President Xi Jinping and to personally thank him for this donation.
“We don’t know but perhaps before his term ends in 2022,” Roque said.
“Before he says goodbye to government service, he wants to visit China and thank President Xi,” the Palace spokesman said.
On February 28, the Philippines welcomed China’s donated 600,000 doses of Sinovac-made CoronaVac vaccines, the first vaccines to arrive in the country.
The Philippines is the only country to receive the China-donated vaccines through a military plane.