Covid-19: Beijing's vaccine diplomacy in Southeast Asia

Faced with the Covid-19 pandemic, the vaccine race is on.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

Text by: Gabrielle Maréchaux Follow

5 mins

It did not take long after the discovery of the coronavirus that the vaccine race was launched.

Having become more and more geopolitical, it is now a new area of ​​rivalry between China and the United States, particularly visible in Southeast Asia.

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From our regional correspondent in Kualu Lumpur

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It's a visit that might seem trivial, if the situation weren't.

The Chinese foreign minister visited Kuala Lumpur this week to meet with his Malaysian counterpart.

While the two men were able to discuss and reaffirm the economic and political ties that unite the two countries, arguably the most important announcement was elsewhere: China pledged to prioritize Malaysia, when its research work vaccines against Covid-19 will be successful. 

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A priority which is not exclusive either, because Malaysia is not the first country to be able to boast of what is presented as a Chinese favor.

The head of the Chinese politburo made a similar promise in Rangoon, Burma, at the end of September.

In mid-August in Indonesia, an exchange of good practices was recorded: the most populous country in Southeast Asia agreed in particular to act as a guinea pig with a series of tests on humans carried out in Indonesia in exchange for the formula one of the Chinese vaccines.

Before that, in the Philippines, President Duterte asked China for help from the end of July, and more specifically for priority access to the vaccine against the coronavirus when it was available. 

But if we know today the determination of China, which fervently wishes to take the lead in this vaccine race and thus restore its international reputation, seriously damaged by

, its aid to countries Southeast Asia also appears highly strategic.

Conflicts territoriau

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This region of the world, in addition to being, for several years now, caught between China and the

in the trade war between them, is also a highly coveted area, with various territorial disputes in the China Sea. , which pit Beijing against its neighbors but also against the United States.

However, in this context, the Chinese vaccine could change everything for developing countries not rich enough to carry out their own vaccine research and whose hospitals are having great difficulty in containing the coronavirus.

If the rewards that China can expect in exchange for priority access to the vaccine are still unclear, and not openly explicit, it is, however, easy to guess their nature.

Undoubtedly economic first, when we hear the Chinese Foreign Minister congratulating himself on Indonesia's wish to continue to cooperate in the Chinese Silk Road project, in the fields of e-commerce, and 5G in particular , a sector where China still has great export difficulties.

Or when we read for example the Malaysian Prime Minister assuring via a Facebook post written after the diplomatic visit from China " 

 ".

A point of view that has not always been unanimous in Malaysia.

In 2018, ex-Prime Minister Mahathir canceled three rail and gas pipeline projects, which required debt deemed excessive to China by warning Beijing against " 

 ". 

Waters coveted for their natural resources 

But the territorial issues of the China Sea, where multiple small very strategic islands, because in the middle of waters rich in natural resources, are coveted by the countries of the zone, also seem to resurface when it comes to the Chinese vaccine.

Thus, for example, at the end of July, the Philippine president himself took the lead in assuring Beijing that the Philippines did not confront China on this ground, just after having in the same speech asked for Beijing's help to fight the coronavirus.

A few months later, on October 16, 2020, Manila lifts the moratorium that has prevented the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the region since 2014, and the Philippine government assures that it will now be able to accelerate discussions with Beijing on a common energy project.   

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But not all the countries in the area seem ready to let the distress of the coronavirus qualify their position vis-à-vis China.

Vietnam, currently one of the most intransigent countries on the China Sea issue, has turned to Russia.

Thailand is committed to an English vaccine trial, and Indonesia does not seem ready to bet on a single country.

The Indonesian Foreign Minister on a diplomatic trip to Europe announced in London that she had ordered 100 million doses of vaccines from an English laboratory.

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• China

• Coronavirus

• Malaysia

• Burma

• Indonesia

• Philippines

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