Low international trust in Chinese-made vaccines. The survey found that Chinese-made vaccines are not even as trusted internationally as those made in Russia. Currently, the Chinese Communist Party‘s “vaccine diplomacy” is hitting a brick wall.
China’s vaccines have the lowest international trust rating
Of the vaccines made in the United States, India, Russia and China, the vaccines made in China are currently the least trusted internationally.
The U.S. Pfizer vaccine was 95% effective in phase III clinical trials, while the Moderna vaccine was 94% effective.
A peer review published in the British medical journal Lancet in February this year confirmed that a total of two doses of the Russian-developed “Satellite-V” (Sputnik-V) vaccine had a protective efficacy of 91.6% in clinical trials.
Publicly available information shows that the Chinese-made Kexing vaccine had an effectiveness of 83.5% in Turkey, 65.3% protection in phase III clinical trials in Indonesia, and an overall protection rate of 50.4% in phase III clinical trials in Brazil. These inconsistent data have reportedly made some Western countries skeptical.
In January, a survey of about 19,000 people in 17 countries and territories conducted by the British market research firm YouGov showed that most people were skeptical of Chinese-made vaccines.
Foreign Policy reported that the UAE was the first foreign country to accept a vaccine developed in China, but Emiratis have more confidence in vaccines developed in Russia or India, according to YouGov’s survey. Even in Mexico and Indonesia, where vaccines are developed in cooperation with China, people prefer Russian-made vaccines to those produced in China.
The Central Asia Barometer Survey, released in early February, found that when it comes to vaccines, 52 percent of Kazakhs, 58 percent of Uzbeks and 76 percent of Kyrgyzstan believe Russia will be best able to help their country, while only 20 percent of Kazakhs, 14 percent of Uzbeks and 8 percent of Kyrgyzstan believe that Communist China is the most capable of helping them.
Cambodia’s Cambodia-China Times reported on March 19 that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen also stood up for Chinese-made vaccines that day, saying “Chinese vaccines are the safest, and so far, all vaccine recipients have had no adverse reactions.”
However, Hun Sen’s comments came after he and his wife received a vaccine from British company AstraZeneca (AZ) on March 4. Reuters reported that this AZ vaccine for New Crown Pneumonia (CCP virus) was supplied by India.
Guo Weimin, a spokesman for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, boasted at this year’s “two sessions” of the Communist Party that as of the end of February, the Communist Party had provided vaccine aid to 69 countries and two international organizations, and exported vaccines to 28 countries.
While Chinese vaccines have been approved for use in dozens of countries around the world, none of the Chinese vaccines have been approved for use by the World health Organization (WHO).
China’s “Vaccine Diplomacy” Hits a Wall
Prior to the U.S.-China high-level meeting in Alaska, a video summit of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between the United States, Japan, India and Australia was held on March 12.
The leaders made a major commitment to provide up to one billion doses of vaccines to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Indo-Pacific and other regions by the end of 2022, through Indian manufacturing, U.S. technology, Japanese and U.S. funding, and Australian logistics capabilities, White House national security adviser Sullivan said after the meeting.
Previously, India was engaged in a “vaccine diplomacy war” with the Chinese Communist Party. According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, India has given away 20 million doses of vaccines to neighboring countries for free. By February this year, India had provided 15.6 million doses of vaccines to 17 countries through donations and commercial contracts.
Among them are 150,000 doses to Bhutan, 100,000 doses to Maldive, 1 million doses to Nepal, 2 million doses to Bangladesh, 500,000 doses to Sri Lanka, 1.5 million doses to Myanmar, 500,000 doses to Afghanistan and 100,000 doses to Mauritius. And Seychelles, an island nation in the southwestern Indian Ocean, received 50,000 doses of vaccine from China and India, respectively.
By early March, China had donated only 500,000 doses to Nepal, 300,000 doses to Sri Lanka and 300,000 doses to Myanmar. It has donated the most vaccines to Pakistan among the Belt and Road Initiative countries, but it has covered less than 0.6 percent of the country’s population.
The setback for the Chinese Communist Party’s “vaccine diplomacy” is particularly evident in Southeast Asia.
According to figures cited by Foreign Policy, the CCP has committed to deliver 250 million doses to Southeast Asia, representing 44 percent of the global commitment. According to a survey of 10 Southeast Asian countries conducted from Nov. 18, 2020, to Jan. 10, 2021, the Communist Party ranked first in the region in terms of anti-Epidemic assistance, but only 16.5 percent of respondents considered it a trusted force in the region. That compares with 19.8 percent in India and 48.3 percent in the United States.
Other countries that have territorial disputes with the Chinese Communist Party have “stepped into multiple boats” and purchased vaccines from multiple countries, but not from the Chinese Communist Party.
Vietnam is a typical example. Despite aggressive vaccine diplomacy on the ground, Vietnam imports large quantities of vaccines from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, but not from China.
On the issue of vaccines for Olympic athletes, the Chinese Communist Party’s proposal has been thwarted.
On March 11 of this year, IOC President Thomas Bach announced that the Chinese Communist Party had offered to provide vaccines for the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Japan and Australia have since declined to do so.
On March 12, Japanese Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa said that the IOC had not yet communicated with Japan on the matter and that Japanese athletes could not receive foreign vaccines that were not approved by Japan.
On March 14, Australian media said the Australian Olympic Committee and athletes refused to participate in the IOC’s plan to procure Chinese-made vaccines for athletes.
Multiple confirmed cases in people vaccinated with Chinese-made vaccines
On March 20, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was confirmed to have tested positive for Neocoronavirus (a Chinese communist virus) and is now in self-imposed quarantine at Home.
Just two days ago, on March 18, official Chinese media reported that Imran Khan had received the first dose of the vaccine produced by the Chinese Communist Party’s Sinopharm Group in Islamabad.
Pakistan launched a universal vaccination program against the Chinese Communist Party virus on March 10. However, Reuters reports that Pakistani health care workers are concerned about the Chinese-made vaccine.
The Pakistani prime minister’s confirmation came on March 18, when Liu, an examiner at the No. 8 Hospital in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, was diagnosed. His colleagues broke the news that Liu had completed 2 doses of the Chinese-made vaccine.
Following this confirmed case in mainland China, Chinese medical experts are already exploring the possibility of a “third” dose of the Chinese-made vaccine.
Chinese Communist Party Denies “Vaccine Diplomacy,” Official Media Reveals Purpose of Exporting Vaccines
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities have long denied practicing “vaccine diplomacy,” but on December 24, 2020, Xinhua, the CCP’s official media, issued an editorial saying that some Western politicians claim that the CCP is using vaccines for “vaccine diplomacy” in order to expand its political influence, which is This is a “sinister intention”.
Communist Party officials have also repeatedly claimed that the CCP’s promotion of global cooperation to combat the epidemic “never seeks any geopolitical goals, never has any economic interests in mind, and never has any political conditions attached. Xi also emphasized that the CCP is acting as a responsible power in the global fight against the epidemic.
However, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken bluntly stated in an online roundtable with Nikkei Asian Review and other Japanese media on March 17 that the Communist Party’s “vaccine diplomacy” has “We should not link the distribution of or access to vaccines to politics or geopolitics.”
According to The Australian, the Indo-Pacific nation is under pressure to give Chinese companies favorable infrastructure and economic opportunities in exchange for the supply of vaccines from China’s Sinopharm and Kexing.
The newspaper quoted sources involved in the immunization program as saying that the Chinese Communist Party’s push to provide vaccines to developing countries comes with “strings attached” as tensions between the Communist Party and Western countries increase around its influence in the region.
Jeffrey Wilson, director of the US-Asia Centre in Perth, Western Australia, said the Chinese Communist Party has a long history of using “conditional economic penalties or inducements” to achieve its goals. “China’s (CCP) vaccine diplomacy is really just a form of economic diplomacy,” Dr. Wilson said, “and it’s a common path for China’s (CCP) aid programs, and it’s never been transparent.”
The Communist Party’s official media has repeatedly revealed the purpose of its vaccine exports, including the promotion of “One Belt, One Road” and the promotion of the Communist Party’s institutional superiority.
In March 2020, Liang Xiaofeng, Vice President and Secretary General of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, stated that priority should be given to providing Chinese vaccines to countries along the Communist Party’s “Belt and Road” route.
On February 10, 2021, Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadom expressed his country’s gratitude to China for providing vaccine assistance to Algeria, and was willing to purchase vaccines from China and build “One Belt, One Road” together with China.
Professor Yang Zhanqiu of Wuhan University’s Institute of Medical Virus Research told the Global Times that China is not behind the United States in vaccine development. An anonymous expert, on the other hand, said, “The U.S. is definitely inferior to China in terms of ‘concentrating efforts to do great things’ because it is a purely market-based operation.”
Recently, the Chinese embassies in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Italy, and several Asian and African countries have announced that since March 15, they will provide “visa facilities” for foreigners who have received vaccines produced in China and have proof of vaccination.
Current affairs commentator Li Linyi said that although the Chinese Communist Party does not require other countries to sign agreements when exporting vaccines, it is weaponizing them. For example, the priority of providing vaccines to countries with good relations in Europe and countries along the “Belt and Road” is essentially a political exchange. The fact that foreigners who go to China can get “visa facilities” if they get vaccines made in China is more proof that the CCP is engaged in “vaccine diplomacy”.
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