China’s “Weaponized” Vaccine: Intertwining Between International and Domestic Politics

Abstract

Ever since China has formally joined the WHO-backed global COVID-19 vaccine initiative known as COVAX, there is a presumed notion that China's vaccine diplomacy will make a significant contribution to the international public good and thus uplift Beijing's role as the rule-maker of international order. To scrutinize this, the paper asks if China succeeded in proliferating its weaponized vaccine policy to obtain maximum diplomatic gains and soft power projection to intensify its international image, geopolitical power, and domestic politico legitimacy. The authors argue that despite its vaccine diplomacy demonstrated the robust governance capacity and responsibility to be a great power. Yet, Beijing's geopolitical influence and international image are significantly overrated and not enough to play a more prominent role in the global power fulcrum/equilibrium. On the contrary, China enjoys a leading position on the domestic political front. Its successful portrayal of China's vaccine provision in the global market and remarkable configuration to leverage a deep-rooted nationalism has fundamentally provided China with a powerful rationale to divert its public's attention from Beijing's earlier inadequate handling of the outbreak. The evaluation of the paper reveals that China's vaccine diplomacy's influence in promoting international image and geopolitics is limited but has successfully stabilized its domestic political environment and enhanced its domestic legitimacy.

The Politics of Vaccine Diplomacy and Sino-Indonesian Relations

“…(Li 2008). There are arguments that China's vaccine diplomacy had mixed reception (Huang 2021) and did not help much of the country's global image (Zhang and Jamali 2022). However, it is also reported that China has benefited from its vaccine diplomacy to Southeast Asia (Vannarith 2021).…”

Relevance of the world health organization in a multipolar world in solving global health challenges

“…LMIC especially faced many challenges in receiving vaccines timely and equitably ( 29 , 30 ). In the absence of the intervention of the WHO the wealthier countries took undue advantage of vaccine distribution ( 31 , 32 ). Hence the role of the WHO in ushering goodwill for vaccine diplomacy is inevitable.…”

Vaccines, media and politics: A corpus-assisted discourse study of press representations of the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines

“…The development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines have been severely plagued by geopolitics and nationalism, since a successful vaccine can help a country rebuild their economy and health system and gain advantages over other countries [23]. COVID-19 vaccine research and development have become a new site for global competition and contestation [24] and "a race against time and each other in an unequal world" [25].…”

“…By contrast, China viewed the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines as both a solution to the pandemic and an opportunity to promote its soft power and boost its international image [23]. The Chinese government also offered land, loans and subsidies for vaccine companies to make vaccines along with fast-tracking approvals [23]. Unlike the US, China prefers to take a globalist approach to maximize diplomatic gains of COVID-19 vaccines.…”

“…• CD: proved (15), proven (8), keep (7), feel (5), shown (7), proves (3), found (6), ensure (7) • NYT: keep (70), proved (27), shown (27), deemed (16), proves (12), keeping (17), feel (23), prove (15), proven (11), ensure (…”