Due to the increasing demand for COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines, Chinese Ambassador to Manila Huang Xilian has announced that Beijing will donate more to increase the country's vaccine supply.

Huang made this announcement in his remarks during the inauguration of the China-funded P1.46-billion Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge on Thursday, July 29, 2021.

“China has become Philippines’ largest and stablest source of the vaccine and other anti-pandemic goods. As the Philippines faces increasing demand for vaccines, we will donate more and successively increase the supply of vaccines to the Philippines,” the Chinese envoy said.

Huang stressed that China has been standing in solidarity with the Philippines in fighting the pandemic, being the first country to donate test kits, the first country to provide PPEs, first to dispatch a medical expert team, the first to donate vaccines, and the first to export a large number of vaccines to the country.

On the inauguration of the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge, Huang said the completion of the bridge marks a “major progress of the synergy” between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Duterte administration’s Build, Build Build program.

“This inauguration signifies the multiple China-Philippines governments to government cooperation projects are entering into a new stage of harvest. In the near future, more projects, more break grounds are to be completed in succession,” he said.

The Chinese diplomat paid tribute to the two teams who have worked as one to overcome the adverse effects of the pandemic and never compromised on the high standards and quality of the project.

“This achievement has been made possible with strong support from leaders of our two countries and the two governments as well as the hard work and dedication from both sides, including the Chinese contractor CRBC,” Huang said.

The Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge, according to Huang, is expected to greatly enhance the traffic and facilitate people’s travel across the Pasig River and promote socio-economic development in the National Capital Region.

Huang added that more China-funded projects are forthcoming such as the BI bridge in Manila; the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project; Phil-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology technical cooperation program Phase III and the the10,000-ton rice donation project are expected to be completed within this year.