China’s “vaccine diplomacy”: Tool to exploit economically weaker states

NEW DELHI: China in the backdrop of the outbreak of Covid has floated its “vaccine diplomacy” to widen its ties with nations its views as friendly but in the process, have started exploiting these economically weak states. This is based on President Xi Jinping’s declaration that China was willing to make its potential Covid-19 vaccines a “global public good”.

While richer countries including Australia, Britain and the USA are making their own deal with pharmaceutical companies, China deliberately directed its efforts to lower and middle-income nations and announced priority access of the China made Covid-19 vaccine to the Mekong neighbours including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Some countries in Latin America, West Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe besides Nepal have also been targeted by China, ET has reliably gathered.

On August 27 Bangladesh government approved human trials (Phase-III) of China’s Covid-19 vaccine (developed by Sinovac Biotech from China) despite a pushback from within. The vaccine will reportedly be used on 40,000 Bangladesh citizens, informed sources told ET. Sections of the local establishment and medical fraternity in Dhaka are of the opinion that Bangladeshis are used as guinea pigs.


This is nothing new for China. Communist party has been taking similar measures specifically against Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities within China. There are reports that China was testing its vaccine on Uyghurs as an experiment. Besides Uyghurs have been forced to produce PPE and masks for both domestic and international markets. Uyghurs are also being forced by Beijing to work in the factories for foreign investors.

There are allegations that China is trying to replicate the “Xinjiang model” in economically weaker countries and human trials of Covid-19 vaccine is one such example. Beijing is using these countries as laboratories, sources alleged. China’s offer of vaccines to these countries are also conditional on BRI projects, sources said as they cautioned that South, SE Asian and Latin American countries should not fall in the vaccine diplomacy trap.