Cambodia’s wariness about accepting China-produced coronavirus vaccines not only indicates the pandemic is well-handled, it’s a message by Phnom Penh that even though its ties with Beijing are deepening, it is not a proxy of the Asian giant, said Cambodian analysts.
Earlier this week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said his country would order its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines via the United Nations backed Covax programme, which provides subsidies to 92 lower-income countries for several vaccines, but these do not include China’s Sinovac shots.
Hun Sen said he would only trust and accept vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). “Cambodia is not a dustbin, and not a place for a vaccine trial,” said the leader, who is known to be a close ally of China.
