Chinese ‘co-macy’ in the Middle East

There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has crippled economies the world over. At the moment, the market leader in global commodity demand is the Covid vaccine. Seventy-three varieties are already in development.

While many Western governments are amassing millions of doses in line with ‘vaccine nationalism’, authorities in Beijing have been engaged in vaccine diplomacy by manufacturing and distributing Chinese produced counteractants throughout the neglected global south. Apart from tempering the damage caused to China’s global image as the stem of the virus, vaccines produced by Chinese companies Sinopharm and Sinovacare are also staving off competition from Western alternatives such as the US-based Moderna vaccine, the German-American company, Pfizer, and the British-Dutch Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because of their price and cold storage requirements.

In consonance with their Health Silk Road — which was initiated in 2017 as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — China has been actively deployed in health statecraft, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, through provision of medical equipment and online seminars with various international health authorities. In essence, health is now a key component of Chinese foreign policy and the most recent link in the chain between Asia’s most powerful country and the wealthy monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula. The relationship between the two sides, once based on bilateral oil trade, has been thriving in recent years, mainly because of mutual diversification schemes — national rejuvenation projects on the one end and the BRI on the other.

In early December 2020, UAE became the first country in the world to approve the Chinese vaccine (Sinopharm) stating that initial data from phase three clinical trials had placed efficacy at 86%. Within a week, Bahrain followed suit. Vaccine orders in the Middle East are driven by both logistical and diplomatic considerations. For instance, many have cited that benefits of using the Chinese vaccine are also a reflection of the UAE’s eastwards shift away from complete dependency on the US, especially in light of the new administration in Washington.

But alas politics is never far away and China faces stiff competition in the Middle East where vaccine marketing is concerned. Presently, while Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are arranging for the Pfizer vaccine — the counteract, developed by the US company in partnership with Germany’s BioNTech, in a show of tact (or prudence) in order to balance out the China-US rivalry — Iraq, Jordan, UAE and Bahrain have hedged their bets by ordering from both Pfizer and Sinopharm.

However, the new UK strain of Covid-19, which is spreading across the globe, has portended complications and now many leaders are weighing the opportunity costs of using less expensive Chinese vaccines since at this point, half a loaf is better than none. Hence, more countries are likely to follow the UAE and Bahrain example.

It goes without saying that vaccine deployment has laid bare — in a harsh way — the global income disparities. While rich countries have taken up a major portion of the current immunisations, poor states are still envisioning whether they will survive the pandemic. The Middle East is a miniature example of this bigger picture. While the oil-rich countries of the Gulf were among the first in the world to receive the vaccine, countries like Yemen and Syria (which have been the worst affected by Covid) have to contend with ambiguous timelines and complicated allocation plans.

By helping reduce the vaccine access gap between rich and poor nations, China is effectively shedding away all previous criticisms and instead portraying itself as a benevolent power.

In essence Covid-19 vaccines could be the soft power diplomacy tool Beijing needed all along.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2021.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.