The tug-of-war between the U.S. and China for influence in Latin America has quietly unfolded. China and Argentina have agreed that they will cooperate in the production of Sinopharm’s New Crown (CCP virus) vaccine; and the U.S. has emphasized that it will help Latin American countries enhance their economic competitiveness and counterbalance CCP influence under fair and transparent international guidelines.
The Chinese Communist Embassy in Argentina announced on May 3 that it will cooperate with Sinopharm in the production of the vaccine. According to Chinese media reports, the Argentine Minister of Health, the Argentine presidential advisor, the CCP ambassador to Argentina and other officials held a video conference with the heads of China National Pharmaceutical Group and Argentine pharmaceutical companies to reach a consensus to cooperate in the production of the New Crown vaccine.
This comes on the heels of a major “vaccine diplomacy” effort by the Chinese Communist Party to Latin American countries. At the annual meeting of the Council of the Americas on May 4, Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez described the country’s plight over the lack of vaccines.
“We have a contract with Astra Zeneca for 10 million doses of vaccine, which was scheduled to begin delivery in March, but it hasn’t started yet, so we had to look for other vaccine supplies, and we found them in China. So far, China is our main source of vaccine.”
The New Crown Vaccine Global Access Mechanism (COVAX), led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization (GAVI) and the Coalition for Epidemic Prevention Innovation (CEPI), has a limited number of vaccines distributed to countries due to Due to the limited number of vaccines distributed to countries and the seriousness of the epidemic in the United States, the vaccines produced in China and Russia were the only option for Latin American countries.
A shipment of Chinese New Crown vaccine arrives in a foreign country
According to the British organization Our World in Data, at least thirteen countries in Latin America use either the Chinese national drug or the Kexing vaccine. When Chinese vaccines arrived in Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, the presidents of these countries were present at the airport to greet them. However, the efficacy of the Chinese vaccines has been questioned. We recently reported that the number of confirmed cases in Chile increased rather than decreased despite the mass vaccination with the Coxin vaccine, leading to another national lockdown.
The U.S., which has been hit hard by the new vaccine epidemic, has not exported a large amount of vaccines, but has donated $2 billion this year to help distribute the vaccine worldwide. Secretary of State John Blinken recently pledged to continue to provide $2 billion to the U.S. and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) next year.
In the face of the expansion of Chinese Communist Party power in Latin America, the U.S. is turning its focus to infrastructure such as semiconductor chips, hoping to assist the economic development of Central and South American countries to face the growing influence of the Chinese Communist Party. Speaking at the same conference, Julie J. Chung, acting assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, emphasized that the United States will stand with many countries in the Western Hemisphere that have long faced challenges of economic inequality, corruption and weak democratic institutions.
“These challenges have been exacerbated by the pandemic, making the (Latin American) region more vulnerable to unfair trade investments from other countries, such as China. The United States stands with its partners in the Western Hemisphere in rejecting coercive economic instruments and insisting that all must abide by fair and transparent rules and international norms,” Julie Chung said.
Speaking at the annual meeting, State Department Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Julie J. Chung emphasized that the United States stands with many countries in the Western Hemisphere that have long faced challenges of economic inequality, corruption and weak democratic institutions. (AP Photo)
In addition, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo (Gina Raimondo) at the annual meeting focused on semiconductor chips. Faced with a global chip shortage, Raimondo responded to questions from General Motors (General Motors) executives by saying that he would ask TSMC and other Taiwanese companies to give priority to supply semiconductor chips to the U.S. automaker.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t keep trying. The medium- to long-term solution is to make more chips in the United States,” Raimondo said, “so that our supply chain is not overly dependent on China and Taiwan.”
In addition to the semiconductor supply chain, Raimondo also talked about the lack of experience with medical supplies and protective clothing at the time of the outbreak, and she said that in the long run, in addition to increasing U.S. investment in the semiconductor industry, other important supply chains must also be redirected to allied countries.
The Strategic Competition Act of 2021, passed by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in late April and introduced by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NY) and Republican Congressman Jim Risch (R-CA), includes a call for more aid to Africa and Latin America. The bill includes a call for more aid to Africa and Latin America to counterbalance Chinese influence.
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