The meaning of China’s vaccine diplomacy
SUPCHINA
…Guy Burton, an academic who works on China-Middle East relations, sketches a portrait of the UAE for me. “In the UAE, you get this sense that it wants to be at the cutting edge of everything.” This is the country with a “Ministry of Possibilities,” a place fueled by petrochemical wealth but desperate to diversify and employ all kinds of techy-sounding buzzwords in the process. Healthcare is, of course, one area that the UAE wants to develop. “You can’t see this as a one-way street,” says Burton.
…In the Middle East, it’s not only China that stands to benefit reputationally from distribution of a Chinese vaccine. While the UAE’s interests in Sinopharm are primarily about health and the economy, being a manufacturing hub also presents the Gulf state with diplomatic opportunities of its own. It has already donated doses to Seychelles and may well leverage its wealth to gain favor with countries in the wider region. Guy Burton tells me that the UAE has long sought to punch above its weight and that the government is enthralled with the concept of soft power. “The UAE is looking inward as well as outward, it wants to open up its economy and gain first mover advantage, but it also wants that diplomatic edge,” Burton says.
