IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v10y2023i1d10.1057_s41599-023-02073-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of Chinese vaccine diplomacy during COVID-19 in the Philippines and Vietnam: a multiple case study from a soft power perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Remco Johan Leonard Dijk

    (Maastricht University)

  • Catherine Yuk-ping Lo

    (University College Maastricht)

Abstract

Vaccine diplomacy is a subset of global health diplomacy and refers to the use and delivery of vaccines to achieve a country’s global health goals and foreign policy objectives. Countries have used vaccine diplomacy to increase their soft power during the COVID-19 pandemic. China, an emerging world power, was no exception in this trend. By December 2022, China had dispatched 1.65 billion vaccines worldwide; approximately one-third of the Chinese vaccines were sent to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. China attempted to increase its soft power via vaccine diplomacy to appeal to its neighbours with which it has long-standing territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS). Focusing on two key claimants in the SCS, our study has the following research question: How effective was Chinese COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy in the Philippines and Vietnam from a soft power perspective? Through a qualitative multiple case study research design, we determined the effectiveness of Chinese vaccine diplomacy in the Philippines and Vietnam by using four indicators of soft power: public opinion, foreign policy, attractiveness, and business and trade. Data collection consisted of a literature search of academic literature and newspaper articles that were published between 26 May and 13 June 2022. A thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the data. Analysing the effectiveness of Chinese vaccine diplomacy based on the four indicators of soft power, our results show that only the indicators of attractiveness in Vietnam and business and trade in the Philippines have somewhat improved. In contrast, the indicators of public opinion and foreign policy showed neutral or negative results for China. This study concludes that Chinese vaccine diplomacy in the Philippines and Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic was unsuccessful from a soft power perspective. One reason is that China undermined its soft power approach by simultaneously using hard power tactics in Southeast Asia. Using vaccine diplomacy to increase soft power is not always desirable from a global health perspective. Instead, countries should focus on equitable vaccine access and address asymmetrical power relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Remco Johan Leonard Dijk & Catherine Yuk-ping Lo, 2023. "The effect of Chinese vaccine diplomacy during COVID-19 in the Philippines and Vietnam: a multiple case study from a soft power perspective," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02073-3
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02073-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-02073-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-02073-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nye, Joseph S., 2008. "Public Diplomacy and Soft Power," Scholarly Articles 11738397, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    2. Aisling Irwin, 2021. "What it will take to vaccinate the world against COVID-19," Nature, Nature, vol. 592(7853), pages 176-178, April.
    3. Priya Gauttam & Bawa Singh & Jaspal Kaur, 2020. "COVID-19 and Chinese Global Health Diplomacy: Geopolitical Opportunity for China’s Hegemony?," Millennial Asia, , vol. 11(3), pages 318-340, December.
    4. Andrew K. Rose, 2016. "Like Me, Buy Me: The Effect of Soft Power on Exports," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 216-232, July.
    5. Joseph S. Nye Jr., 2008. "Public Diplomacy and Soft Power," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 616(1), pages 94-109, March.
    6. Daniele Carminati, 2022. "The economics of soft power: Reliance on economic resources and instrumentality in economic gains," Economic and Political Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 19-43, January.
    7. Matthew J Page & Joanne E McKenzie & Patrick M Bossuyt & Isabelle Boutron & Tammy C Hoffmann & Cynthia D Mulrow & Larissa Shamseer & Jennifer M Tetzlaff & Elie A Akl & Sue E Brennan & Roger Chou & Jul, 2021. "The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(3), pages 1-15, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yan Yi & Huimin Liu & Yifan Yang, 2024. "Media debates about China’s role as a global public goods supplier: frame contestation in reporting on the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nyam Elisha Yakubu, 2022. "An Appraisal of Hard Power in Contemporary Practice of Diplomacy," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(02), pages 342-351, February.
    2. Yazeed Abdullah Almahraj, 2023. "British press coverage of international sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia: content analysis study in light of country concept model," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Steven L. Pike, 2023. "What diplomats do: US citizen perspectives on the work of public diplomacy," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 442-455, December.
    4. Mihails Potapovs, 2024. "Place branding: is it public policy, or isn’t it?," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 275-292, September.
    5. Iván Goldman, 2024. "North Korea’s ‘New DPRK’ YouTube channel: new public diplomacy attempt or international propaganda? A case study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Nisha Garud-Patkar, 2022. "Mediated Public Diplomacy: Frame-building Contest Between the United States and Pakistan During a Conflict," International Studies, , vol. 59(1), pages 58-75, January.
    7. Jacklyne Achieng' Aput & Anita Ndoti Kiamba & Peter Kagwanja, 2023. "Public Diplomacy in Regional Integration: Strategizing Policy Goals," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(10), pages 368-384, October.
    8. Hendrik W. Ohnesorge, 2022. "The method of comparative-historical analysis: a tailor-made approach to public diplomacy research," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(3), pages 261-271, September.
    9. Andrea Pavón-Guinea & Mónica Codina, 2024. "Public diplomacy: a framework-based literature review and decentering research agenda," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 255-274, September.
    10. Hannah Moscovitz, 2022. "Projecting the Nation(s) in Multinational Federal Systems: International Education and Nation Branding in Canada/Quebec," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 52(1), pages 82-106.
    11. Jianhong Qi & Kam Ki Tang & Da Yin & Yong Zhao, 2020. "Remaking China’s Global Image with the Belt and Road Initiative: Is the Jury Out?," Discussion Papers Series 635, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    12. Muhammad Ittefaq & Zahid Shahab Ahmed & Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja, 2023. "China’s Belt and Road Initiative and soft power in Pakistan: an examination of the local English-language press," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 1-14, March.
    13. Linlan Xu & Chunying Wen, 2024. "Bringing multidisciplinary perspectives of country image: factors influencing the perceptions of Chinese youth toward the images of Russia and Ukraine," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 306-321, September.
    14. Yanling Zhu, 2023. "The Greater Bay Area: film festivals as platforms for cultural diplomacy," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 335-344, September.
    15. Anna Kobierecka & Michał Marcin Kobierecki, 2024. "Public diplomacy and nation branding in action: Swiss Embassy's participation in the Night of Museums Event in Warsaw," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(2), pages 204-217, June.
    16. Matthew T. Palmer & Eugene Bempong Nyantakyi & Jami A. Fullerton, 2023. "The US Peace Corps as a public diplomacy strategy," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 15-29, March.
    17. Zhang, Anlan & Xu, Yue & Robson, Matthew J., 2023. "The legitimacy defeat of Huawei in the media: Cause, context, and process," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6).
    18. Lesego Alicia Keimetswe, 2023. "The impact of the Chinese Government Scholarship Program and Confucius Institute on China’s national image in Botswana: a soft power perspective," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 488-499, December.
    19. Raquel Quevedo-Redondo & Marta Rebolledo & Nuria Navarro-Sierra, 2023. "Music as Soft Power: The Electoral Use of Spotify," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 241-254.
    20. Seow Ting Lee, 2022. "Film as cultural diplomacy: South Korea’s nation branding through Parasite (2019)," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 93-104, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02073-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.