Why China’s vaccine diplomacy shouldn’t be a high-profile charm offensive

China’s lacklustre soft power rankings and the fact that Covid-19 vaccines are a new frontier in public health mean it should dish them out quietly

Surely Beijing has not forgotten the backlash earlier this year when defective Chinese-made medical equipment was rejected by coronavirus-hit countries

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A container containing coronavirus vaccines made by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech waits to be loaded onto a plane bound for Indonesia as China starts supplying vaccines to Asian countries. Photo: AP

Published: 9:30am, 14 Dec 2020Updated: 10:41am, 14 Dec 2020

If soft power rankings are any indication, China’s efforts in adding to the global public good have achieved mixed results in recent years. Last year, it came 27th out of 30 nations in the Soft Power 30 index published by the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy and Portland Communications.

In a recent commentary for Bloomberg, Hal Brands, the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, pointed to academic work suggesting that the US still has an edge over China, including on soft power – although this does not mean Washington can rest on its laurels.

Monocle, the global affairs and lifestyle magazine, ranked Germany, South Korea, France, Japan and Taiwan in the top five positions in its soft power index in its current edition. China was conspicuously absent.

The London-based publication said even though China’s economic might has helped it in building influence around the world, the country did not make the list as “distrust of its government and concern over the consistent bullying of its neighbours has translated into a very precarious kind of soft power.”

Beijing’s ongoing vaccine diplomacy to developing countries should take this disparity into account. These rankings and perceptions show that Beijing’s efforts to provide impetus to global economic growth through the Belt and Road Initiative and its greater participation in global climate and energy discussions have been negated by the perception that it is using its economic clout as a tool of coercion.

Even its efforts to ramp up its role in the World Health Organization while recasting itself as a responsible global health leader through the promotion of the Health Silk Road, which is aimed at improving public health in belt and road countries, have not given it a boost.