China and the global search for health security: history, vaccines, and governance

Abstract

China is a key player, not just an actor, in the global search for health security. Reiteration of this point is useful for International Relations studies, which often portray China as a factor to contend with, especially given the background of the country as the first to report the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper adopts an analytical framework developed through a summary of routines in Chinese engagement in global health from a practitioner’s perspective: aid, interdependence, governance and knowledge. These are the core elements in a country’s pursuit of engagement with the rest of the world. After the introduction, the second section of the paper reviews contributions from China in the history of global plague control over the past century. The third section discusses structural issues affecting access to vaccines, which are essential for bringing COVID-19 under effective control. The fourth section identifies a number of challenges China is facing in global health governance. The final section offers a few concluding thoughts, reiterating the nature of interdependence in the global search for enhancement of health security.

Global conflict escalation during the pandemic, climate, and economic dilemmas: Healthcare sustainability challenges in conflict zones and elsewhere

“…In present years, China has increased economic, military, and political competition with the US, as depicted in numerous official documents and statements (Papageorgiou & de Melo, 2022). The trade war and escalating tariffs could raise manufacturing costs for generics and biosimilars in the US (Zha, 2021). However, the trade war has opened up India's opportunity to export APIs.…”

Global Health Issues With Conflict Escalation Among Pandemic, Climate, and Economic Crises

“…In the present years, China has increased economic, military, and political competition with the US, as depicted in numerous official documents and statements [138]. The trade war and escalating tariffs could raise manufacturing costs for generics and biosimilars in the US [139]. However, the trade war has opened up India's opportunity to export APIs.…”

Fractured Global Health Governance

“…Through the explanation above, the vacuum of power is very likely to emerge as a consequence of increasing various global health challenges amidst COVID-19. The author of this paper acknowledges that several articles have pointed to the increasing role of China in global health governance (Genevaz, 2021;Qi, 2021;Zha, 2021). However, those articles do not elaborate further on the correlation between China's increasing role in global health governance and its rising power interests.…”