China is winning the race to vaccinate the world. Bloomberg Report
China's health and geopolitical moves, tactics and strategies according to a Bloomberg insight
The Covid-19 pandemic was a devastating public health catastrophe around the world. For China, it also provided an unprecedented geopolitical opportunity. Having had the epidemic under control, and with world leaders distracted by their countries' health struggles, she was able to use the chaos of the pandemic to intensify political repression in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Other nations cried out in scandal, but China persisted. Perhaps most important, early exports of its rapidly developed vaccines have provided Beijing with a powerful diplomatic calling card to Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. And as the global death toll rises, Chinese officials can brag about their success in fighting the virus around the world, while gaining greater access and influence in more distant capitals, Bloomberg writes .
"The US response to the outbreak is nothing but a disaster and a total failure," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, one of the original wolf warrior diplomats named for their position, said last month. conflictual. "On the contrary, China has secured important strategic results in the fight against the virus."
On China, at least, he is not wrong. The country has so far shipped about 265 million doses of the Covid vaccine, more than all other nations combined, with pledges to provide an extra 440 million, according to Airfinity Ltd., a scientific information and analysis company. Other leading powers have not kept pace. President Joe Biden has vowed that the United States will become an "arsenal for fighting Covid-19".
His administration promises to increase U.S. vaccine production and donate 80 million doses overseas by the end of June, including 20 million licensed for use in the U.S. – the first time it has shared doses it could have given to Americans. Europe has done better, exporting some 118 million in-house doses so far, according to Airfinity, even amid criticism of a slow start to its vaccination campaign at home. India, meanwhile, exported nearly 69 million doses to nearly 100 countries until it suffered the world's worst epidemic and halted further deliveries.
China is about to receive another big boost. After clearing the western-made vaccines, the World Health Organization recently cleared the vaccine manufactured by China's Sinopharm Group Co. An agreement for one of Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is expected soon. This will allow Chinese vaccines to reach dozens of developing nations through Covax, the global vaccine initiative, which has only managed to ship 68 million of the 2 billion doses it hopes to send by the end of the year. "China will be a very important partner in the long run," says Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, one of the groups that leads Covax.
WHO clearance, a de facto approval for regulators in poorer countries, could help unleash hundreds of millions of doses of Chinese shots. The impact of the country's contributions will also be amplified by India's absence, making this "the best time for China to practice vaccine diplomacy and to make more use of its first-mover advantage," says Yanzhong Huang. a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
India's desperately poor neighbors in South Asia have been among those targeted by China. On April 27, the same day that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi organized a virtual meeting with his counterparts in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, National Defense Minister Wei Fenghe was in Bangladesh, pledging to strengthen military cooperation. Within days, officials gave emergency approval to the Sinopharm vaccine. Less than two weeks later, the Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh surprised his guests with an unexpected warning: Any future cooperation with Australia, India, Japan and the United States would inevitably damage the nation's ties with China.
"Bangladesh, which depended on Indian doses, is now under pressure from China on its strategic foreign partnerships, in the midst of bilateral negotiations for a large sale of urgently needed vaccines," said Nicholas Thomas, associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong and editor of several books on global health and foreign policy. "It would be foolish to conclude that the aid and vaccine supply that China is now giving to Asia and the world will not translate into a long-term diplomatic advantage."
The country's advantage may not last. India recognizes China's advantage but believes it will not be lasting and expects its exports to increase in a few months, according to a New Delhi foreign ministry official who asked not to be identified. The sometimes overzealous pressure tactics of Chinese diplomats could also backfire. Bangladesh also complained about the comments of the local ambassador.
Another wild card is the reliability of Chinese injections compared to that of other vaccines. The effectiveness of the Sinovac vaccine, for example, varies widely – from 50% to 90% – in studies. Global polls have shown that Chinese injections are the least favored in several places. Even in Hong Kong, only 37% said they would take a Sinovac vaccine, compared to 56% for Pfizer Inc.'s. Western diplomacy of vaccines with more effective shots could easily dismiss China's gains, according to Thomas, the academic. of Hong Kong. The New Delhi official says India remains a trusted partner for vaccines across the developing world and that the Chinese shots have not lived up to expectations.
Across Africa, nations have struggled with vaccine hesitation, suggesting that Chinese vaccines may languish in storage rather than generating the political goodwill Beijing intended.
Still, China's contributions will be crucial in the race to inoculate large populations across the developing world before epidemics – and variants – spread too widely. With Covax shipments delayed by the collapse of exports to India, China may be the only short-term choice for many poor countries. "The pandemic began as a Chernobyl moment for China," says Suisheng Zhao, director of the Center for China-United States Cooperation at the University of Denver. "It has become an opportunity for China to show the world that its rise cannot be stopped."
(Extract from the foreign press review by Epr)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/la-cina-sta-vincendo-la-gara-per-vaccinare-il-mondo-report-bloomberg/ on Sun, 23 May 2021 05:14:19 +0000.