The long-term effort regarding Covid-19 will not be to get the richest countries back on track but to vaccinate and protect the poorer ones that have not got the same bulk access to vaccines and treatments as the likes of the US, EU and China.
Initiatives like Covax are important for ensuring vaccines reach countries that had been priced out of buying doses, with the likes of the US and China both donating to the scheme and offering more support in the future – Biden pledging an additional $4 billion in funds, and China providing ten million doses vaccine.
Both the United States and China look to be secure in their domestic vaccination programs. The US has recently provided 130 million adults with the first shot of one of the vaccines, which is just over half of the adult population – a giant turnaround considering the confusion and stifled response under President Trump only three months ago.
China, too, reports that they have given 192 million adults a dose of their vaccine – although recently a health official has conceded that the state vaccine is not as effective as others across the world. With steady progress from both China and America, there does not appear to be a need for domestic aid, but there is scope for them to collaborate on an international level.
China especially might be interested in providing vaccines to African countries, given the ongoing investment and interest they have had with the continent for many years. The USA, too, could benefit from a soft power boost, in response to President Trump’s legacy of isolationism and preference for the stick, rather than the carrot.
However, there are a few obstacles in the way of building meaningful consensus between the two countries.
Biden’s Approach to China
President Joe Biden’s foreign policy has copied neither Obama, to whom he was Vice President, nor Trump, his predecessor. Biden has entered his presidency and applied pressure on China, not happy to let them continue as they had done over the last few years.
One of the most prominent tensions between the two countries is the US support for Taiwan, which China has historically coveted since their separation. In recent weeks, President Biden has built consensus with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to protect Taiwan from Chinese aggression – an effort that has been decried by China. Only four days later, China performed a fly-over of the island to signal their intent of action over compromise.
Taiwan is a vital strategic position in the South China Sea, helping to defend shipping lanes across the likes of Japan, South Korea, China, the Philippines and Malaysia, so it is an issue that takes more prominence than more recent vaccine concerns.
Furthermore, Biden has applied pressure to China regarding the ongoing human rights concerns by the state towards Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
The recent human rights report issued to Congress has branded China’s treatment of Uighurs as “genocide“, with allegations set against the state that include rape, forced sterilisation, mass detention and cultural erasure, among others, that will be a key sticking point regarding relations between the two countries. China suggests these camps are vocational and help to combat extremism, but countless reports are disputing this.
China’s Relationship with The Pandemic
Regardless of any tensions between China and the USA, Beijing might also not wish to get too involved with the global vaccination effort to avoid speculation and investigation into the original cause of Covid-19. The US and UK have recently criticized both China and the WHO investigation into the origin of Covid-19 as not going deep enough, believing China had withheld information and evidence.
China has been defensive about investigations in Wuhan, withholding evidence and deflecting blame, despite the overwhelming consensus that the virus came from an animal-to-human transmission in Wuhan, possibly from a bat. If there was going to be any US-China collaboration, there would surely need to be a concession from China, which does not look likely right now.
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