“Moderna has refused to hand over to #China the core intellectual property behind the development of its breakthrough Covid-19 vaccine, leading to a collapse in negotiations on its sale there, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.” ft.com/content/a481c1…
Moderna turned down Beijing’s request to hand over the recipe for its messenger RNA vaccine because of commercial and safety concerns, said two people involved in negotiations that took place between 2020 and 2021.
The vaccine maker says it is still “eager” to sell the product to China.
One individual close to the Moderna team in Greater China said the company had “given up” on its previous efforts to access the Chinese market, because of Beijing’s demand that it hand over the technology as a prerequisite for selling into the country.
“To date, Beijing has offered two routes for foreign Covid-19 vaccine makers to distribute in China, dependent on regulatory approval: carrying out a full technology transfer to a domestic drugmaker or ...
... establishing a manufacturing facility in China with a local partner, while keeping control of the underlying technology. Moderna was pressed to take the former option.”
“The Moderna leadership did not want to hand over the vaccine recipe to a Chinese partner because of the reputational damage if the local partner botched the manufacturing, said two people with knowledge of the matter.”
“In recent weeks, Moderna has signalled a willingness to restart talks with China. Its chief medical officer Paul Burton said this month: “We would certainly be very eager to collaborate with China if they felt that there was a need for a vaccine there.””
“Moderna told the Financial Times: “We are not currently engaged in supply talks with China. We are open to speaking with countries on their supply needs for Covid-19 vaccines.”
“Industry insiders observed that the company’s willingness to reopen talks with China, the last remaining major economy without an mRNA jab, has been driven by sluggish demand for vaccines in the wealthier countries where it first targeted sales.”
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North Korea on Tuesday fired a ballistic missile over Japan, its neighbors said, escalating tests of weapons designed to strike key targets in regional U.S. allies amid stalled nuclear diplomacy. apnews.com/article/seoul-…
The Japanese prime minister’s office said at least one missile fired from North Korea flew over Japan and was believed to have landed into the Pacific Ocean.
It said authorities have issued an alert to residents in northeastern regions to evacuate buildings nearby in what was reportedly the first such alert in five years.
“At least 13 #Uyghurs have died as a result of poisoning from disinfectants sprayed in their homes last week used to fight a wave of coronavirus infections in a county in northwestern #China’s #Xinjiang region, local residents and officials said.”rfa.org/english/news/u…
The Uyghurs who died were all residents of Guma county (in Chinese, Pishan), Hotan (Hetian) prefecture. They are said to be among thousands of people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) reported to have been poisoned by disinfectants used to fight the COVID-19 virus.
Many videos shared online show authorities spraying inner walls, furniture, bedding as well as inside refrigerators in homes in the region. Residents said planes with sprayers have flown over the area frequently since the lockdown.
“As world leaders congratulated #China on its Oct. 1 National Day, protesters gathered in cities around the world to protest against the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s ongoing persecution of ethnic minorities and dissidents.” rfa.org/english/news/c…
Hong Kongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs organized around 15 protests in U.K. cities to mark the 73rd National Day and "say no to the CCP," ...
... as Russian president Vladimir Putin, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni added their congratulations, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Paraguay is 1 of 14 countries that still officially recognize #Taiwan. However, concerns are growing after Paraguay's president urged Taipei to invest $1 billion in his country to help resist pressure to switch diplomatic recognition to #China. My latest:dw.com/en/will-taiwan…
In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper last week, Abdo said agricultural producers in the South American nation have been urging the government to gain access to the Chinese market amid falling meat prices.
"We are working with the president of Taiwan so that the Paraguayan people feel the real benefits of the strategic alliance," he told the FT during a trip to the US.
"#Taiwan's military is facing a recruitment problem, as the over-18 population is forecast to decline significantly in the coming years, due to the country's low birth rate, according to a recent government report." focustaiwan.tw/politics/20221…
The number of registered births in Taiwan has dropped over the past decade, from 196,627 in 2011 to a record low of 153,820 in 2021, the report said, citing data from the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).
The decline is expected to continue over the next few years, which poses a problem for the recruitment of military service men and women, according to the assessment report released last Friday by the Legislative Yuan's Budget Center.
"#Taiwan should be proud of its democratic development, a visiting German lawmaker told President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office on Monday." focustaiwan.tw/politics/20221…
During the meeting, Klaus-Peter Willsch, chair of the German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, recalled that he and Tsai first met in Berlin in 2011, when the latter was chair of the then opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ...
... while his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was the ruling party of Germany.