My colleague Jimmy Quinn recently highlighted “the brazenness of China’s vaccine diplomacy.” Further illustrating his point, China’s state-controlled Global Times recently announced that it has the potential to “reshape the global structure” were it to win the vaccinations race. The editorial reads:
Only by getting vaccination rates in China roughly on par with the rates in the US and European countries, along with keeping the social distancing capabilities we already have, can China continue to lead in being open in the future. That would not only safeguard our own national interest but also provide the impetus for the recovery of the global economy.
As Jimmy noted, China’s efforts to provide global leadership in the provision of vaccines have been embarrassingly disingenuous and ineffective. Nevertheless, the CCP’s ambitions to lead the “recovery of the global economy” give cause for concern. (China’s economy bounced back with nearly 5 percent growth in GDP in 2020, narrowing the gap with the U.S. And the Centre for Economics and Business Research projects that China will overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy by 2028.)