China is preparing the ground for “vaccine diplomacy”

The PRC authorities are promising some countries priority access to COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese companies or offering them loans to purchase desired doses. Some commentators see this as the beginning of Beijing’s “vaccine diplomacy”.

No coronavirus vaccine has yet been approved for use by the World Health Organization (WHO), but governments are already striving for early doses for their citizens. Wealthy Western countries either invest in research or make vaccine purchase deals with manufacturers, but the poorer countries cannot afford it.

According to WHO data, four of the eight potential vaccines that have entered the final, third phase of human clinical trials are drugs developed by Chinese companies. PRC leader Xi Jinping has promised that the Chinese vaccine will be a “global public good,” but it is unclear what exactly is behind this statement.

Global health experts expect China, Russia and other countries to try to capitalize on the strong demand and turn a possible effective vaccine into a diplomatic tool, says the US Wall Street Journal.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte revealed in late July that he had asked Xi for quick access to a Chinese vaccine when it was ready. The next day, the Chinese Foreign Office announced that the Philippines – “China’s friendly, close neighbor” – would get the priority they asked for.

Beijing is seeking support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in connection with the growing conflict with the United States, which is more and more often referred to as the “new cold war”. The frictions concern, among others, the South China Sea, where China is engaged in territorial disputes with several countries in the region, including the Philippines.

However, Chinese authorities are also trying to “vaccine diplomacy” in regions considered to be the “backyard” of the US. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently promised Latin America and the Caribbean a $ 1 billion loan to purchase a COVID-19 vaccine, the Mexican government reported.

The United States is the most affected country in the world, and U.S. Health Minister Alex Azar announced that they would only share the vaccine with other countries after their own needs were met. However, according to official data, China has practically mastered the pandemic at home, so it can offer the vaccine to others with greater freedom.

Helping poorer countries gain access to vaccines can improve China’s international position and strengthen its “soft power” – said global health care specialist from the US Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) think tank Yanzhong Huang, quoted by the South China Morning Post “.

Earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, China donated face masks and other protective equipment to other countries. This was accompanied by an aggressive public diplomacy campaign that aroused considerable controversy in the West. Critics called it “masked diplomacy” and assessed that it was intended to distract attention from the mistakes made by the Chinese authorities in the initial phase of the crisis.

However, meeting the demand for vaccines in the initial period will be much more difficult than for protective masks. “It will be a different level. That is why vaccine nationalism is starting to take its toll” – said Thomas J. Bollyky, director of the CFR global health program, quoted by “WSJ”.

Some commentators believe that China must first of all produce a proven vaccine and provide it to 1.4 billion of its citizens. If they also want to play a role in global supply, they have to increase their production capacity significantly.

Another possibility is technology transfer that would allow other countries to produce vaccines developed in China. According to the media, Chinese companies have held talks about such a solution, including with companies in Brazil and Indonesia. One reason is the difficulty of researching potential vaccines in China, where very few new infections have been reported recently.

The problem, however, may be the lack of trust in the Chinese pharmaceutical sector, notes SCMP. In recent years, China has been shaken by several vaccine safety scandals, including drugs used to vaccinate children. For this reason, regulations in the industry were tightened last year.

Andrzej Borowiak from Canton

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