In addition to diverting attention from the Chinese Communist Party’s policy of Uighur genocide, the Chinese publication “2020 U.S. Report on Human Rights Violations” is actually designed to highlight China’s success in fighting the epidemic by portraying the United States as incompetent. Beijing wants to tell pro-Americans that they must see the reality that when they need assistance the most, your big brother, the United States, is only concerned with grabbing vaccines for its own people, while only China is willing to help. For China, since it has a nice epidemic prevention data, it means that China will not need so many vaccines and can export them generously.
However, only Pfizer, Modena, AZ and Jiao Sheng are more internationally recognized, and the reason why Chinese vaccines have failed to get international certification is because there is not enough phase III clinical data. The few reports that have circulated suggest that the Chinese vaccine, while considered effective, is not as good at stopping the virus as the Pfizer and Modena vaccines.
Even so, the Beijing government’s endorsement of only Chinese-made vaccines is not only a form of protectionism, but more importantly, it paves the way for vaccine diplomacy. As vaccines continue to be monopolized by Western countries, the Chinese Kexin vaccine has become the cheapest and most readily available vaccine for developing countries, and Beijing authorities have generously allowed at least 53 countries to receive trials of the vaccine and another two dozen to place orders for it with China. Data previously provided by the Foreign Ministry shows that at least more than 80 countries have received Chinese vaccines under various names, respectively.
With the ouster of U.S. President Donald Trump and another major outbreak in Brazil, President Bolsonaro, who previously said he did not want the Brazilian people to be white mice for Chinese vaccines, has had to reconnect with China, asking them to expedite the shipment of tens of millions of vaccines, as well as the raw materials needed for mass production of vaccines in Brazil. Bolsonaro’s government turned on the Chinese vaccine issue because his political opponent, São Paulo Governor Doria, had negotiated directly with the Chinese on the vaccine issue. The people will be criticized if they find out that it was not the central government that found the vaccine but a political enemy that obtained it.
Beijing’s strategy is actually very simple: for those countries that were already pro-China, such as Pakistan, the Chinese vaccine can consolidate the original relationship and continue to dominate their domestic politics, while for countries that were originally pro-US, as long as the vaccine is used to support political enemies who confront the leaders of the ruling party, the current government will have to bow down and be obedient. Taking 5G construction as an example, the New York Times reported that during the Trump administration in the United States, Brazil rejected Huawei’s participation in the country’s 5G construction bids on the grounds of rejecting Chinese espionage, and the Trump administration had taken active action to prevent Huawei’s participation.
During a visit to Brazil last November, Klatch, then a senior State Department economic policy official, called Huawei an industry rogue that must be shut out of the 5G network. But reports indicate that Huawei has regained its ticket to bid for 5G by fighting for vaccines for Brazil. Huawei not only provides hospitals with software to help doctors work on the front lines of the epidemic, but also increases donations of much-needed medical equipment to Brazilian hospitals. The country is so vulnerable and at the mercy of the virus that Brazil is sacrificing internet security in exchange for a vaccine.
After the Chinese vaccine was administered, the epidemic has been on the rise, with many countries in Central and South America and the Middle East, including Brazil, Chile, Pakistan and Turkey, experiencing a surge in confirmed cases after the Coxin vaccine was administered, along with strong side effects that have caused anxiety. Brazil, Chile and Turkey have already surpassed the peak of last June or October. The outbreak in Brazil is out of control, with more than 66,000 deaths in March and nearly 540,000 confirmed cases in the week of March 21-27. One of the Amazonian races in the Brazilian rainforest has been decimated by the epidemic. The approval of the Coxin vaccine in Brazil has not stopped the number of cases from climbing, and there are now fears of a more infectious and aggressive variant of the virus emerging in Brazil.
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