Considering that the only vaccine available is Sanofi one or Audenz, if they aren't receiving vaccines from the west, they're screwed as they were with the Sinovac COVID rollout. They need western vaccine research into H5N1. Those older vaccines might not even be viable to use against a new clade, all things considered, so that's even worse. It's possible that's why they seem so intent on smoothing things over with the US. I don't think I've ever heard China capitulate over balloon gate, admitting a "mistake" the way they did.

I tried to express that in a joke reply earlier because this is so fucking frustrating and honestly, it's grinding me down, so if you saw that, I apologize if the meaning wasn't clear.