German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced an agreement on Friday to let expatriates on the mainland use the Covid-19 vaccine from Germany's BioNTech and pressed for Beijing to allow the shot to be made freely available to Chinese citizens.

On his first visit to China since becoming chancellor and the first by a G7 leader since the pandemic, Scholz said China and Germany had different approaches to fighting the virus but had a joint responsibility to eliminate it.

BioNTech would be the first non-Chinese coronavirus vaccine to be administered on the mainland as Beijing has hitherto insisted on administering domestically produced vaccines.

Scholz made the remarks during a one-day visit that tested the waters between China and the West after years of increasing tensions, with talks also touching on the war in Ukraine, reciprocal market access and climate change.

BioNTech partners on Covid vaccines with major US pharma firm Pfizer in regions outside of greater China. As early as 2020 it struck a parallel collaboration agreement with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical with a view to supply the shots to greater China.

No other foreign-made Covid shot has gained access to the mainland market. (Reuters)