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May
Tribal elders broker local Taliban, Afghan government ceasefire
Written by Nur YasminTribal elders in eastern Afghanistan have achieved something that has long eluded world leaders - a ceasefire between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
The month-long stoppage in hostilities in the Alingar district of Laghman province, one of the hardest hit by violence, was called to allow local farmers to harvest their wheat crop and students to sit annual examinations.
"A ceasefire has been something the world's most powerful countries were trying to establish in Afghanistan, but unfortunately, couldn't," Jaber Alkozai, resident of Alingar, told Reuters on Wednesday.
Tribal elders drafted a demand letter, known locally as an "Ariza", which was then signed by two local officials of each the Taliban and the government.
Reuters has reviewed a copy of the letter. There have been no reports of fighting in Alinger since the ceasefire began on Tuesday, despite heavy clashes elsewhere in Laghman.
The ceasefire, which will last until June 21, is not the first such agreement during the war, but it comes at a critical time. Fighting has intensified across the country in the wake of Washington's announcement that it would unconditionally pull out all U.S. troops by September.
Washington-led Western capitals and other influential regional countries have so far been unable to convince the Taliban to halt fighting against Afghan forces for an extended period, despite protracted attempts and talks.
Qari Nabi Sarwar, a tribal elder of Alingar, said farmers had been facing another year of the loss of ready-to-harvest wheat due to fighting. Dozens of stacks of wheat were burned to ashes in previous years after being hit in crossfire by ammunition, including rocket launchers.
"Farmers were preparing to get the result of their toil, and the Taliban and Afghan forces were fingers-on-triggers, looking for a small excuse to fire at each other," Sarwar told Reuters by phone.
Farmers in the region plan to begin their wheat harvest on May 22, which marks the first day of the third Afghan solar month of Jawza, traditionally the start of harvest across the country.
Haji Abdul Waris, a member of the delegation that approached both sides, told Reuters the ceasefire would also prevent thousands of students from missing their exams "as their schools are turned into trenches".
Locals are happy with the development because they believe it serves as an important example that a ceasefire across Afghanistan can be achieved by "true and honest" tribal elders, Alkozai said.
Asadullah Dawlatzai, a spokesman for the Laghman provincial governor, said the government was working with local tribal elders and religious scholars to expand the ceasefire into other areas.
"Through this, the local government is trying to reach a permanent ceasefire even if it is on a village, district or provincial level," he said, adding that it was also in force in Laghman's provincial capital, Mehtarlam.
A spokesman for the Taliban did not respond to requests for comment. A source in the insurgent group confirmed the Taliban had agreed to the arrangement, which they described as an agreement with locals, not the government.
The one-page demand letter, signed by local government officials, the military and the Taliban, stipulates both sides will remain limited to areas already held and will undertake no movement or operations during the ceasefire.
"Both sides must take tribes' problems into consideration and help them in solving them; whichever side violates the abovementioned items will be guilty before the tribe," the letter said. (Reuters)
May
U.S. EPA to keep biofuel mandates steady in 2021-22 due to coronavirus -sources
Written by Nur Yasmin
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's biofuel blending mandates for this year and next are likely to be in line with those of 2020 as the agency accounts for weaker fuel demand since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, three sources familiar with the matter said.
That would spare the U.S. refining industry the added costs associated with the usual annual expansion in renewable volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard, at the expense of biofuel producers and the corn industry which depend on regular increases to grow their businesses.
The RFS requires refiners are meant to blend billions of gallons of biofuels like corn-based ethanol and biodiesel into their fuel, or buy tradable credits from those that do. The required amount of biofuels can increase each year, in hopes of reducing foreign petroleum imports and helping farmers.
The EPA administers the program and is meant to propose new volumes mandates yearly. But the administration of former President Donald Trump delayed the 2021 proposal because of the pandemic, and ahead of an election in which he was courting voters in both the oil and farm sectors.
The agency is now intending to issue both the 2021 and 2022 volumes proposals this summer. read more
In its last finalized ruling, which came out at the end of 2019, the EPA mandated that refiners must blend 20.09 billion gallons of renewable fuel into nation's fuel mix for the 2020 compliance year. The mandate included 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels like ethanol, with the rest including other forms of biofuels.
The upcoming volume proposals are due to include requirements that are largely the same, the three sources said, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The agency likely was also guided by volume targets set by Congress under the RFS for conventional biofuels and non-cellulosic advanced biofuels, one source said.
The Biden administration this summer is also expected to lay out how electric vehicles could qualify for tradable credits under the RFS, Reuters has reported. This could add automakers into the fractious mix of RFS stakeholders. read more
Both the oil and biofuel industries have battled over the RFS for years. The biofuels industry likes it because it has vastly expanded their market. But refiners dislike it because it requires them to displace their own products with biofuels, while at the same time shelling out cash for blending or blending credits. (Reuters)
May
Antarctica gives birth to world’s largest iceberg
Written by Nur Yasmin
A giant slab of ice bigger than the Spanish island of Majorca has sheared off from the frozen edge of Antarctica into the Weddell Sea, becoming the largest iceberg afloat in the world, the European Space Agency said on Wednesday.
The newly calved berg, designated A-76 by scientists, was spotted in recent satellite images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, the space agency said in a statement posted on its website with a photo of the enormous, oblong ice sheet.
Its surface area spans 4,320 square km (1,668 square miles) and measures 175 km (106 miles) long by 25 km (15 miles) wide.
By comparison, Spain's tourist island of Majorca in the Mediterranean occupies 3,640 square km (1,405 square miles). The U.S. state of Rhode Island is smaller still, with a land mass of just 2,678 square km (1,034 square miles).
The enormity of A-76, which broke away from Antarctica's Ronne Ice Shelf, ranks as the largest existing iceberg on the planet, surpassing the now second-place A-23A, about 3,380 square km (1,305 square miles) in size and also floating in the Weddell Sea.
Another massive Antarctic iceberg that had threatened a penguin-populated island off the southern tip of South America has since lost much of its mass and broken into pieces, scientists said earlier this year.
A-76 was first detected by the British Antarctic Survey and confirmed by the Maryland-based U.S. National Ice Center using imagery from Copernicus Sentinel-1, consisting of two polar-orbiting satellites.
The Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the largest of several enormous floating sheets of ice that connect to the continent's landmass and extend out into surrounding seas.
Periodic calving of large chunks of those shelves is part of a natural cycle, and the breaking off of A-76, which is likely to split into two or three pieces soon, is not linked to climate change, said Ted Scambos, a research glaciologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Scambos said the Ronne and another vast ice shelf, the Ross, have "behaved in a stable, quasi-periodic fashion" over the past century or more. Because the ice was already floating in the sea before dislodging from the coast, its break-away does not raise ocean levels, he told Reuters by email.
Some ice shelves along the Antarctic peninsula, farther from the South Pole, have undergone rapid disintegration in recent years, a phenomenon scientists believe may be related to global warming, according to the U.S. National Snow & Ice Data Center. (Reuters)
May
China CO2 emissions 9% higher than pre-pandemic levels in Q1 -research
Written by Nur Yasmin
China's emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions rose 9% in the first quarter of 2021 compared with pre-pandemic levels, driven by a carbon-intensive economic recovery and big hikes in steel and cement output, research showed on Thursday.
In the 12 months since China began relaxing COVID-19 lockdowns, total CO2 emissions exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 7%, setting the fastest rate of growth since 2012, said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst with the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
China has won praise for massively increasing its renewable energy capacity and for setting targets to bring carbon emissions to a peak by 2030 and become 'carbon-neutral' by 2060.
But around 70% of the CO2 surge in the first quarter was due to increased consumption of coal, he said. Chinese coal production rose 16% year on year in the first three months.
China has vowed to cut coal consumption, its biggest source of carbon emissions - but only after 2025. read more
Earlier this month, a study by the Rhodium Group think-tank showed that China's total 2019 greenhouse gas emissions exceeded those from the whole of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the first time. Per capita emissions were also close to OECD levels.
CREA's Myllyvirta said China's per capita emissions have almost certainly exceeded the OECD average this year.
Only Britain and the United States had registered levels comparable with "the extreme carbon intensity of China's economic model", Myllyvirta added - and that was more than a century ago when renewables were mostly unavailable.
As a developing country with lower historical greenhouse gas levels, China is not yet obliged to make absolute cuts in carbon emissions, and its five-year plan targets suggest they could rise another 5-10% by 2025, Myllyvirta estimated. (Reuters)
May
Biden urges ‘de-escalation’ in Israel-Gaza fighting, Netanyahu says will press on
Written by Nur Yasmin
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press on with operations against Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants after U.S. President Joe Biden urged him to seek a “de-escalation” on Wednesday in the 10-day conflict on the path to a ceasefire.
An Egyptian security source said the two sides had agreed in principle to a ceasefire after help from mediators, although details were still being negotiated in secret amid public denials of a deal to prevent it from collapsing.
Palestinian medical officials said that since fighting began on May 10, 227 people had been killed in aerial bombardments that have destroyed roads, buildings, and other infrastructure, and worsened the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israeli authorities put the death toll at 12 in Israel, where repeated rocket attacks have caused panic and sent people rushing into shelters. Regional and U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire have intensified but so far failed.
Netanyahu has repeatedly hailed what he has described as support from the United States, Israel's main ally, for a right to self-defense in battling rocket attacks from Gaza.
But Biden put the Israeli leader on notice in a telephone call that it was time to lower the intensity of the conflict.
"The two leaders had a detailed discussion on the state of events in Gaza, Israel's progress in degrading the capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist elements, and ongoing diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
"The president conveyed to the prime minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire."
'QUIET AND SECURITY'
In a statement released soon after her comments, Netanyahu said: "I am determined to continue this operation until its objective is achieved - to restore quiet and security to you, the citizens of Israel."
Earlier, in remarks reported by Israeli media from a closed question-and-answer session with foreign envoys to Israel, Netanyahu was quoted as saying: "We're not standing with a stopwatch. We want to achieve the goals of the operation. Previous operations lasted a long time so it is not possible to set a timeframe."
In response to Biden's de-escalation call, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassam said those who sought to restore calm must "compel Israel to end its aggression in Jerusalem and its bombardment of Gaza".
Once that happened, Qassam said, "there can be room to talk about arrangements to restore calm".
Hamas began firing rockets on May 10 in retaliation for what it said were Israeli rights abuses against Palestinians in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The rocket attacks followed Israeli security police clashes with worshippers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and a court case by Israeli settlers to evict Palestinians from a neighborhood in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.
In a 25-minute attack overnight into Wednesday, Israel bombarded targets including what its military said were tunnels in southern Gaza used by Hamas.
Some 50 rockets were fired from the enclave, the Israeli military said, with sirens sounding in the coastal city of Ashdod, south of Tel Aviv, and in areas closer to the Gaza border. There were no reports of injuries or damage overnight but days of rocket fire have unsettled many Israelis.
CRATERS AND RUBBLE
Nearly 450 buildings in densely populated Gaza have been destroyed or badly damaged, including six hospitals and nine primary-care health centers, and more than 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced, the U.N. humanitarian agency said.
The damage has left large craters and piles of rubble across the coastal enclave.
"Whoever wants to learn about the humanity of the (Israelis) should come to the Gaza Strip and look at the houses that got destroyed on top of those who lived in them," said university lecturer Ahmed al-Astal, standing by the rubble of his house in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
He said there had been no warning before his home was destroyed in an airstrike before dawn.
Israel says it issues warnings to evacuate buildings that are to be fired on and that it attacks only what it regards as military targets.
The hostilities are the most serious between Hamas and Israel in years, and, in a departure from previous Gaza conflicts, have helped fuel street violence in Israeli cities between Jews and Arabs.
The conflict has also spilled over to the Israel-Lebanon frontier and stoked violence in the occupied West Bank.
Four rockets were launched towards Israel from Lebanon on Wednesday, the third such incident since the Gaza conflict began, the military said. Israeli forces responded with artillery fire towards targets in Lebanon.
There was no claim of responsibility for the rocket attack.
In the West Bank, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian woman who the military said had fired a rifle at troops and civilians at a bus stop near the city of Hebron.
At least 21 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops or other incidents in the West Bank since May 10, Palestinian health officials said.
The latest deaths in Gaza included three Palestinians killed in overnight airstrikes, one of them a journalist with Hamas's Al-Aqsa radio station, officials said.
Gaza medical officials say the Palestinian death toll includes 64 children, and that more than 1,600 people have been wounded since the fighting began. Israeli authorities say the death toll in Israel includes two children. (Reuters)
May
Germany helps kick off $1 bln conservation fund as biodiversity targets missed
Written by Nur Yasmin
Germany helped launch a new billion-dollar fund on Wednesday to tackle rapidly depleting global biodiversity, as countries missed key land and marine conservation targets but prepare to ramp up efforts in the decade ahead.
Protecting biodiversity has risen up the global agenda, not least because scientists say the destruction of remote natural habitats facilitates the spread of diseases such as the new coronavirus to humans as they come into closer contact with other species.
The United Nations hopes to secure an agreement at the next Biodiversity Convention meeting in China in October to protect and conserve 30% of the Earth's land and water by 2030.
"The concept of '30 by 30' is quite a big political ask, but we need these kinds of targets because they are a perfect way to harness political will," said James Hardcastle, a conservationist at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), referring to the campaign by its tagline.
"We have good hopes for an agreement, but we absolutely must see a commitment to effective conservation, and that includes equity and fairness," he said.
Since 2010, countries have collectively managed to add almost 21 million sq km - an area the size of Russia - to the global network of protected lands, bringing the current total to nearly 17% of the Earth's landmass, according to a progress report published this week by the IUCN.
Yet less than 8% of these lands are connected - something considered crucial for ecological processes and the safe movement of wildlife. Marine conservation areas lag at 7%, below the 2020 target of 10%.
RELIABLE FUNDING
Boosting these figures to hit the 30% target will need international cooperation and financing, experts said. Already 50 countries, including the United States, have pledged to support the "30 by 30" initiative, but with few specifics.
Public and private investors on Wednesday kicked off the Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF), which has an initial target capital raise of $1 billion.
The goal of the fund is to "provide lasting, reliable core funding for at least 30 top biodiversity hotspots in Africa, Asia, and Latin America," said Gerd Müller, Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Seeded initially with $99 million from the German government, and $30 million from private investors, the fund is actively seeking other public and private donors, it said.
Experts say the biggest threats to biodiversity are human activities such as deforestation, pollution, overhunting and fishing, and other factors like invasive species.
An estimated two million species are known to scientists, and of those, around half-face extinction in coming decades. Millions of unknown species could meet a similar fate.
Scientists have called for greater public awareness of this looming mass extinction.
A new survey by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Economist Intelligence Unit found public sentiment is shifting in favor of conservation, most dramatically in emerging markets such as India and Indonesia, where news coverage, Google searches and public petitions related to biodiversity and nature loss have shot up in recent years. (Reuters)
May
Asia snubs IEA's call to stop new fossil fuel investments
Written by Nur Yasmin
Asian energy officials on Wednesday disputed the International Energy Agency's (IEA) call for no new oil, natural gas, and coal investments for the world to be able to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, viewing that approach as too narrow.
The IEA, which has previously championed the oil and gas industry, this week outlined a path to net-zero emissions that suggested stopping new investments in oil, gas, and coal supply, retiring coal-fired plants in advanced economies by 2030, and banning sales of new internal combustion engine cars by 2035.
Energy companies in Australia, the biggest carbon emitter per capita among the world's richest nations, and officials in Japan and the Philippines said there were many ways to get to net-zero, even as the IEA said its pathway was "the most technically feasible, cost-effective and socially acceptable".
Akihisa Matsuda, the deputy director of international affairs at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), said the government has no plans to immediately stop oil, gas, and coal investments.
"The report provides one suggestion as to how the world can reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050, but it is not necessarily in line with the Japanese government's policy," he said.
"Japan needs to protect its energy security including a stable supply of electricity, so we will balance this with our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050."
Japan was the region's third-largest carbon emitter in 2019, after China and India, according to the BP Statistical Review of Energy.
'NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL'
Australia's top oil and gas industry and mining lobby groups said there was "no one size fits all" for decarbonization.
"The IEA report doesn't take into account future negative emission technologies and offsets from outside the energy sector -- two things that are likely to happen and will allow vital and necessary future development of oil and gas fields," Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Chief Executive Andrew McConville said.
Australia's top independent gas producer, Woodside Petroleum (WPL.AX), said it still aims to make a final investment decision for an $11 billion investment to develop a new gas field off Western Australia in late 2021.
"For its part, Woodside is working with its customers, all of whom are in countries that have committed to net zero, to ensure we can supply them with the energy they are seeking in order to achieve their decarbonization pathways," a Woodside spokeswoman said.
Australia on Wednesday committed A$600 million ($467 million) in taxpayer funds to build a new gas-fired power station to back up wind and solar power, which Energy Minister Angus Taylor said was a pragmatic move.
In the Philippines, where coal is set to be the dominant power source for years even after a ban on new coal plant proposals, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the energy transition should be "fuel and technology-neutral".
Cutting finance for oil, gas, and coal without considering efficiency and competitiveness would "set back the Philippines' aspiration to join the ranks of upper-middle-income countries," he said.
While the world is moving to renewable energy, demand for coal is still expected to be strong in the next few decades as some countries are still building new coal-fired power plants, said Hendra Sinadia, executive director at Indonesia Coal Mining Association. (Reuters)
May
Police hold 11 staff of popular Belarus media outlet
Written by Nur YasminBelarusian police were holding 11 employees of the widely-followed news site Tut.by in custody on Wednesday, the outlet said, a day after searching offices and homes in a criminal investigation of suspected tax evasion.
Authorities on Tuesday blocked the website of Tut.by, which has provided detailed coverage of street protests since August against longtime President Alexander Lukashenko.
On Wednesday, it used social media to publish a list of detained staff members, including its chief editor and several administrative employees. It said it was still piecing together what had happened during Tuesday's searches.
The State Control Committee, to which the financial investigation department reports, said on Tuesday a case against unnamed staff had been opened over suspected tax irregularities.
Exiled opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya accused authorities of trying to "murder" the outlet and called for Western sanctions on those responsible.
In power since 1994, Lukashenko launched a violent crackdown last year against the protests.
Around 35,000 people have been detained for taking part in street protests since August, human rights groups say. Dozens have received jail terms. Authorities say that more than 1,000 criminal cases have been opened.
Last autumn, the government stripped Tut.by of its official media status and the two have been at odds throughout the demonstrations.
One of its journalists was sentenced to six months in jail in March after she challenged an official assertion that a protester who was killed was drunk at the time of his death. She was released on Wednesday due to time served.
The outlet's website registered more than half a million views per day during the working week in 2019, according to data from research company Gemius. (Reuters)
May
EU agrees to open doors to vaccinated foreigners
Written by Nur Yasmin
European Union countries agreed on Wednesday to ease COVID-19 travel restrictions on non-EU visitors ahead of the summer tourist season, a move that could open the bloc's door to all Britons and to vaccinated Americans.
Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries approved a European Commission proposal from May 3 to loosen the criteria to determine "safe" countries and to let in fully vaccinated tourists from elsewhere, EU sources said.
They are expected to set a new list this week or early next week. Based on data from the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Britain and a number of other countries would meet the new criteria.
The United States would not, although Americans with proof of vaccination would be welcomed.
One EU diplomat said cases of the Indian variant in Britain would need to be taken into account, although individual EU countries are already setting their own policies. Portugal lifted a four-month travel ban on British tourists on Monday.
Under current restrictions, people from only seven countries, including Australia, Israel, and Singapore, can enter the EU on holiday, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated.
Individual countries can and will still be able to choose to demand a negative COVID-19 test or a period of quarantine.
The current main criterion is that there should be no more than 25 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the previous 14 days. The trend should be stable or decreasing and there should be a sufficient number of tests, which would need to show a minimum percentage of negative tests. Variants of concern can be taken into account.
The Commission proposed raising the case rate to 100. The EU ambassadors opted instead for 75. For inoculated people to gain access, they would need to have received an EU-approved vaccine, with those with a World Health Organization emergency listing being considered.
These people should have received final doses at least 14 days before travel. Under the plan, EU countries that waive test or quarantine requirements for vaccinated EU tourists are encouraged to do the same for vaccinated non-EU holidaymakers.
Children should also be able to travel with vaccinated parents.
An emergency brake could be used temporarily to stop all but essential travel from a particular country to limit the risk of more infectious coronavirus variants entering the EU. Such a brake has been proposed for India.
The EU plan covers countries of the border-free Schengen area, including non-EU members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, but not the non-Schengen EU member Ireland. (Reuters)
May
Under U.S. pressure on graft, El Salvador ratifies cooperation deal with China
Written by Nur Yasmin
The release on Tuesday of a U.S. government list labeling 17 Central American politicians as corrupt prompted El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele to praise China, and its congress to ratify a 2019 cooperation agreement with the country.
The office of U.S. Representative Norma Torres, who had requested the report, released the U.S. State Department document. The report named a close aide of Bukele and his former security minister among those "credibly alleged" to have engaged in corrupt acts. Bukele himself was not named.
The list also includes Honduran and Guatemalan legislators and former officials from all three nations. The report said the list is based on "media reporting, credible information or allegations" of corruption, drug trafficking, and using proceeds of crime to finance political campaigns.
After the release, Bukele said on Twitter the list was about "geopolitics" not fighting corruption. And he praised China's $500 million investment in public investments in El Salvador "without conditions," an apparent contrast to aid from Washington and U.S.-backed lenders that is conditioned on good governance.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday night, El Salvador's Congress ratified a cooperation agreement with China, which had been signed back in 2019. The agreement calls for 400 million Yuan - about $62 million - in investment in a water purification plant, a stadium, a library, and infrastructure along Salvador's coast.
Neither China's embassy in El Salvador nor El Salvador's foreign ministry responded to questions about the discrepancy in investment dollars.
Bukele also praised the 500,000 doses of Chinese drugmaker Sinovac Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine due later on Tuesday and thanked China's leader Xi Jinping for the help.
U.S. officials see corruption as a major contributor to a migrant exodus from the region - along with poverty, gang violence and natural disasters. Washington wants to make sure a $4 billion aid package under consideration does not fall prey to graft.
Central American leaders have pushed back on President Joe Biden's anti-corruption strategy. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, targeted by a U.S. criminal investigation, has warned that U.S. probes jeopardize joint anti-narcotics efforts.
Bukele recently removed top judges and the attorney general, which Washington considered to be unconstitutional. Widely popular Bukele, 39, says the move was justified by his large congressional majority.
El Salvador, which has a dollarized economy closely tied to the United States by trade and a large migrant population, is currently negotiating an over $1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, where Washington has a dominant voice.
The loan is likely to include clauses aimed at committing Bukele to democratic standards.
In contrast to Washington's activist posture, China's embassy in El Salvador responded to Bukele's control of the justice system by saying it would not interfere in sovereign matters.
China has in recent years made diplomatic inroads in Latin America, where it sources commodities and jostles for influence with the United States. During the pandemic, China has stepped into the gap left by Western countries and helped poorer nations obtain vaccines.
With Tuesday's vaccine shipment El Salvador will have received some 2.15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China for its 6.7 million people, according to the country's embassy in San Salvador.
Neighboring Honduras, which does not have diplomatic ties with China, has asked Bukele to share Chinese vaccines in the absence of supplies from the United States. (Reuters)