It's Looking Like There Is a Vaccine Cold War

 

In an earlier post, I described Russian disinformation efforts denigrating Western vaccines and promoting its Sputnik V product, especially in Mexico and South America. Now another worry is China.

According to Foreign Affairs, China is attempting to give or sell vaccine to countries in Asia in order to reap benefits in terms of what is called public diplomacy.  The idea is that if China can deliver the most life-saving vaccine it will gain prestige. It may even make recipient countries feel indebted enough that they will look the other way when China tries to grab contested territory in the South China Sea.  

As reported in the Foreign Affairs article, China's response to such talk is: what, us? "In promoting cooperation in combating the pandemic, China does not seek any geopolitical goals or have any economic interest considerations, and it has never attached any political strings."

M'kay. It's probably just a coincidence that they are prioritizing lower- and middle-income countries that are also targets of their Belt and Road initiative.

The success China is having is alarming the Biden administration.  They are in talks with allies from India, Australia, and Japan (the so-called Quad Alliance) to counter Chinese "vaccine diplomacy." 

That's going to be a challenge given that U.S. has announced that it is hoarding vaccine until all Americans have been inoculated.  Meanwhile, China is already donating hundreds of thousands of doses.

Header Image by Joachim Schnürle from Pixabay