Advertisement
Opinion | As China doles out coronavirus vaccine in Southeast Asia, US withers in a leadership vacuum
- Beijing’s success in stopping the spread of Covid-19 is a source of soft power that will be magnified by providing vaccines in the region
- Washington, meanwhile, has earned no capital in its approach to vaccine diplomacy – indeed, its parsimoniousness may be causing harm
Reading Time:5 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
23
The Covid-19 pandemic is the first major crisis since World War II that the United States has not been a leader in resolving. That role has largely fallen to China, which continues to reap diplomatic accolades for its efforts. Nowhere is this truer than in Southeast Asia, where the US and China compete most directly.
Advertisement
While China and Russia are offering vaccines at cost or in co-development deals, the US is all but absent. The attitude of the administration of US President Donald Trump has been that countries are welcome to enter into purchase agreements with American pharmaceutical companies, but they should expect little in the way of US government support.
China was responsible for the initial spread of the virus, turning it into a global pandemic. Rejecting the unfounded conspiracy theories that it was an intentional release by a covert Chinese bio-weapons programme, Beijing covered up the outbreak because that is what authoritarian regimes instinctively do.
The world owes a debt of gratitude to the Shanghai lab that released without approval the genetic sequence of Covid-19, as well as whistle-blowers such as Dr Li Wenliang or journalist Zhang Zhan.
But China recovered quickly from the initial outbreak. Using its supply-chain dominance, Beijing provided desperately needed personal protective equipment and other gear when global procurements had slowed. Though some equipment was faulty or below international standards, China was still able to stave off international criticism or a formal investigation by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a condition of its help.
Advertisement
And when countries like Australia had the temerity to demand an investigation into the outbreak’s origins, and the Chinese government’s initial cover-up, it was rewarded with tariffs.
Advertisement