China has said that it provides vaccines to other countries with no political conditions attached, responding to a story by The Associated Press saying China pressured Ukraine into withdrawing from a multi-country statement on human rights in China’s Xinjiang region by threatening to withhold a Covid-19 vaccine shipment.

A statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it welcomed Ukraine’s decision to take its name off the statement at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, adding “we haven’t heard that Ukraine has encountered any difficulty in importing vaccines from China.”

China’s written response to AP did not directly address the specific charge, but said, “China’s provision of vaccines and anti-epidemic materials to other countries is not meant to gain benefits from other countries and there isn’t any geopolitical purpose nor any political conditions attached.”