According to the Voice of America website, experts believe that growing concerns and skepticism about Chinese vaccines in developing nations undermine Beijing’s plan to extend its influence through the distribution of doses.

Last December, China approved the first batch of locally made Corona vaccines without divulging the results of the clinical trials. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Wang Wenbin, as of February 2021, China had exported or was in the process of exporting Sinopharma and Sinovac vaccines to 22 nations and will provide vaccination aid to 53 developing countries.

Although China’s population has been mostly protected from the outbreak through mass vaccinations and stringent social regulations, the British market research company YouGov reported in January that vaccines produced in China were not well-liked.

China denies using the highly sought-after vaccination as a negotiating chip. According to press sources, the World Health Organization has not given its approval to any of the Chinese vaccines.

It is legitimate to refer to China’s vaccine policy, which is a continuation of the “mask diplomacy” he implemented with the Corona outbreak, as “vaccine diplomacy,” according to Vuk Foxanovic, a researcher at the London School of Economics (LSE) and the Belgrade Center for Security Policy.

Foxanovic continued: “The (vaccine) policy is centered on restoring China’s reputation after the Corona outbreak, boosting Chinese political influence, fostering Beijing’s soft power abroad, and attempting to capture a portion of the global vaccination market. competing against Russian and Western vaccine producers.”

China has connected vaccine exports to international strategic objectives. Chinese health officials have publicly asked for vaccines to be made available to Belt and Road countries first, and this has led to the “Silk Road of Health” becoming a significant component of the plan.

A definite sign
According to Daniel Aldrich, director of the Security and Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern University in Boston, “China has not provided vaccines to South Korea, Japan, or other neighboring countries; instead, it has focused on projecting its soft power abroad to developing countries in hopes of creating a good reputation for itself.” Gather a group of allies.

China started assisting nations in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa with vaccine support in the summer of 2020, expanding local trade and investment opportunities.

Mexico will keep China’s assistance in mind, said Martha Delgado, the deputy foreign minister of Mexico, on March 15.

The early benefit of Chinese vaccine exports came from the absence of Western competitors. To counter China’s dominance in the Indo-Pacific, however, Australia, India, Japan, and the United States decided in the Quadruple Security Dialogue (QUAD) on March 12 to distribute 100 million doses of Johnson’s American-developed vaccine to much of Asia by the end of 2022.

This quadruple arrangement, according to Nicholas Thomas, associate professor of health security at the University of Hong Kong, makes that domination less certain. “It will be interesting to observe which vaccine the local populace chooses—the Johnson vaccine or the Chinese vaccine. That decision will be a definite sign of the faith of the people in the region in the Chinese choice, not simply their governments “said he.

According to Aldrich, all of the nations who are a part of the Quartet of Security Dialogue are concerned about China’s expansionism and aggression. Additionally, they are making an effort to limit Chinese soft power’s influence.