søndag 1. november 2020

As the US retreats in a coronavirus-ravaged world, China is increasing its influence on the world stage

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced to a virtual gathering of the World Health Assembly in May that his country was working hard on a vaccine for the Covid-19 pandemic. Once it was ready, he declared, the vaccine would be “made a global public good”.

He looks to be keeping his word. Beijing has now publicly pledged that an effective coronavirus vaccine will be available by the end of 2020; it has also committed to providing the vaccine first to more than a dozen countries, particularly emerging nations that it has close ties with, including Brazil and Indonesia. This is just the latest in a series of actions that China has taken to position itself at the forefront of the worldwide response to the virus, and which stands in contrast to the United States’ isolationist stance.