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Post-covid China: ‘vaccine diplomacy’ and the new developments of Chinese foreign policy

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Anna Kobierecka at University of Łódź
Anna Kobierecka
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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world in early 2020 changed it unimaginably. China was forced to face many new challenges at the international level, not only those related to the handling of a health crisis. After overcoming the first wave of the pandemic, China had to focus on foreign policy and public diplomacy efforts to secure its main interests. As the world continues to struggle with COVID-19, China is using the pandemic for its own foreign policy purposes, mainly by using vaccines as a new foreign policy tool. The purpose of the research is to investigate the position of recent Chinese ‘vaccine diplomacy’ with reference to its traditional and contemporary public diplomacy and foreign policy strategies. The investigation has a qualitative character and is based on a content analysis of official press conferences conducted by the Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
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Vol:.(1234567890)
Place Branding and Public Diplomacy (2023) 19:280–293
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41254-022-00266-2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Post‑covid China: ‘vaccine diplomacy’ andthenew developments
ofChinese foreign policy
AnnaKobierecka1
Revised: 25 March 2022 / Accepted: 10 April 2022 / Published online: 14 May 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2022
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world in early 2020 changed it unimaginably. China was forced to face many new
challenges at the international level, not only those related to the handling of a health crisis. After overcoming the first
wave of the pandemic, China had to focus on foreign policy and public diplomacy efforts to secure its main interests. As
the world continues to struggle with COVID-19, China is using the pandemic for its own foreign policy purposes, mainly
by using vaccines as a new foreign policy tool. The purpose of the research is to investigate the position of recent Chinese
‘vaccine diplomacy’ with reference to its traditional and contemporary public diplomacy and foreign policy strategies. The
investigation has a qualitative character and is based on a content analysis of official press conferences conducted by the
Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Keywords China· Foreign policy· Public diplomacy· ‘Vaccine diplomacy’· COVID-19
Introduction
China is an emerging power that can be perceived as a major
international actor. Even in the era of the COVID-19 pan-
demic, China did not resign from attempts to strengthen its
international position. Its goals are extremely wide—China
is definitely trying to mark its presence not only within
Asian continent but also globally. One of the best examples
of Beijing’s intense international activity is the currently
implemented idea of the One Belt One Road initiative. The
rapid economic development of China can be observed not
only in trade but also in intensive military investments(see
Sarker etal. 2018, pp. 623–638). All this is supported by
diplomatic efforts and the excessive use of public diplomacy
in an attempt to highlight the peaceful intentions behind
the new developments in China. Since the rapid growth of
China can be perceived as a threat to many countries, Beijing
decided to pursue its public diplomacy with the aim of pre-
senting China as a peaceful country and, therefore, following
the so-called ‘peaceful rising’ strategy (Buzan 2010).
In the extraordinary conditions of the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic, most states had to adjust to the new
unstable international reality. Therefore, China released a
new strategy on foreign development cooperation at the
beginning of 2021, which is related to the pandemic in
many aspects. Although many of the activities undertaken
by China are not new, they were designed to meet new stand-
ards and face new challenges.
The purpose of the research is to investigate the position
of recent Chinese ‘vaccine diplomacy’ with reference to its
traditional and contemporary public diplomacy and foreign
policy strategies. Taking into account the high activity of
Beijing within international politics and trade, the pandemic
appeared as a serious challenge. The Chinese origins of
COVID-19 are believed to have tarnished China’s interna-
tional image (Silver 2020). COVID-19 was even first called
a ‘Wuhan virus’ (Lee 2021). In such circumstances, China
had to conduct its foreign policy with great care and forge
the negatives into positives. Therefore, preceded by dona-
tions of medical protective equipment (see: Kobierecka and
Kobierecki 2021), ‘vaccine diplomacy’ should be a new tool
in the hands of Beijing.
* Anna Kobierecka
anna.kobierecka@uni.lodz.pl
1 Faculty ofInternational andPolitical Studies, University
ofLodz, Lodz, Poland
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Chiefly, there are two distinct definitions of vaccine diplomacy. On the one hand, it is defined as an international negotiation to solve global health issues (Chipaike et al., 2023;Kobierecka, 2023). ...
... [AQ: 1]A notable example is the USA-USSR collaboration on the polio vaccine during the Cold War (Hotez, 2014). On the other hand, it is defined as a strategy to achieve nonmedical objectives (Chipaike et al., 2023;Kobierecka, 2023). From this perspective, vaccine diplomacy is part of soft power diplomacy to gain influence over other countries through the power of attraction (Nye, 2004). ...
... However, some scholars have pointed out the geopolitical motives behind China's vaccine diplomacy: that China strategically leveraged vaccine diplomacy to expand their global influence (Vadlamannati and Jung, 2023). It was part of its nation branding efforts to project itself as a responsible international power (Kobierecka, 2023;Lee, 2023;Tung, 2022). This branding was also to contrast with the vaccine nationalism in the USA and other countries who focused on vaccinating their citizens first (Benyera, 2021;Lee, 2023;Suzuki and Yang, 2023). ...
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... On the other hand, China increased its export volume dramatically compared to the pre-COVID period. Multiple scholars (29)(30)(31) have argued that China's commitment to supplying its vaccines to the global market can be interpreted as a diplomatic strategy. It is noted that many of the recipient countries of Chinese vaccines were developing countries in Southeast Asia and Africa and are involved in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (31). ...
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