After the South American Football Federation (CONCACAF) announced that it had been given 50,000 doses of China’s Coxin vaccine at this year’s Copa America tournament, the official media on the mainland made a big deal of the fact that Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi was about to become a Coxin vaccine recipient. However, the reports in the foreign media did not show that Messi was confirmed to receive the Chinese vaccine. Some commentators suspect that the South American football federation has reached an interest agreement with the Chinese Communist Party and that Messi is being used as a propaganda pawn. Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi of (reportedly) ona club “will be vaccinated with China’s Kexing Xinguan vaccine” before he flies to South America for the Copa America soccer tournament in Argentina and Colombia in June and July.
Messi has a large fan base in China and the news became a hot topic on Chinese social media immediately after the announcement.
An active user of the social media Clubhouse, “My Regretful Words”, is a big fan of Messi. He said that Messi, as the world’s number one player, would not have received the Chinese vaccine, even though he was tied to it by the South American Football Federation. The Chinese authorities are obviously using Messi to promote the Chinese vaccine, including internal and external publicity.
“The Chinese Communist Party has always taken the vaccine out of context and told the ignorant public inside the wall that Lionel Messi is going to get this vaccine, which is a kind of propaganda inside the wall. Come and fight”, and this time there is no need to send eggs. It is also possible that the CCP took advantage of the (South) America’s underdeveloped economy or backward medical conditions and made some kind of agreement, the premise of which was that Messi would be my spokesperson, so that Messi would endorse me and market its vaccines worldwide or in the Americas.
Alex, a commentator living in Australia, believes that the incident shows that the South American Football Federation, like the International Olympic Committee, has been captured by the Chinese Communist authorities’ “vaccine diplomacy” and that Messi, as a member of the Argentine national team, was used without knowing it.
Alex said: “South America is corrupt and it is likely that China will use this opportunity to promote its vaccine, which the Chinese government has been using as a political tool to show its influence. The Chinese government can use Messi’s name and reputation to promote this thing, “you want to play the Copa America, you have to play this vaccine”, it infiltrated this thing to the Copa America already, is very shameless, Messi are not necessarily know about it.
Alex believes that Messi and other well-known stars know that they are being used after the joint launch of resistance.
Alex said: the people involved are more extensive, I think so many influential stars, they may unite to boycott this vaccine, because after all, they have a better choice, why should go to choose a poor and more risky vaccine? I don’t think they would do that, and their team doctors or whatever would object.
The official Chinese media reported that the South American Football Federation requires players to receive at least one dose of the Coxin vaccine before they can play in the Copa America soccer tournament.
However, the Spanish media reports interpreted it differently, saying that CONCACAF requires vaccination only for teams consisting of players and coaches to play in the Copa America. Messi is only one of the South American national players and has not yet confirmed whether he will participate in the Copa America, let alone whether he will opt for the Chinese vaccination.
Reports also indicate that the Chinese vaccine received by CONCACAF has not been approved for use in Argentina and that some South American national teams may be forced to travel to Uruguay for the vaccination.
We have not yet received a reply to our email inquiries sent to FC Barcelona’s media department and to Messi’s team via Instagram. The South American Football Federation (SAF) also did not reply to our request for comment.
Gonzalo Belloso, the deputy secretary general of the South American Football Federation, revealed on Twitter on the 13th of this month that Lionel Messi “deserves a lot of credit” for the 50,000 vaccines provided to the federation by China’s Kexing. He said Messi had generously donated three autographed sweatshirts.
In March, the recently re-elected IOC President Thomas Bach reached an agreement with the Chinese government to provide vaccines sourced from China for the Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The OCOG has been criticized for acting as a front man for the Chinese Communist Party’s “vaccine diplomacy”. Japan has made it clear that it will not receive Chinese vaccines.
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