IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/pbapdi/v19y2023i1d10.1057_s41254-021-00224-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vaccine diplomacy: nation branding and China’s COVID-19 soft power play

Author

Listed:
  • Seow Ting Lee

    (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Abstract

As a global crisis, COVID-19 has altered how nation-states project influence. Public health has risen to the top of every agenda as individuals, societies, and nation-states focus on a common goal. With the advent of COVID-19 vaccines, home-grown national vaccines when distributed all over the world can play an integral role in nation branding as a technique for projecting soft power. This paper applies the theoretical lenses of nation branding and soft power to examine China’s bilateral vaccine diplomacy efforts, specifically the motivations and outcomes. The findings suggest that Chinese vaccines are used not only for image repair and for expanding Beijing’s great power ambitions, but also to reinforce and leverage existing soft power programs, and to capitalize on new economic and geopolitical opportunities. Vaccine diplomacy is a natural extension of Chinese soft power including prior engagement in health diplomacy. Sentiment analyses of social media and international media coverage suggest that where vaccines go, influence may follow. Although international sentiments are not all positive—with concerns over Chinese vaccines’ efficacy, safety, and data availability, Beijing reaped substantial soft power dividends through its ability to project influence in scientific prowess and civic virtue by providing the vaccines as International Public Goods through aid and gifts to countries left behind by the vaccine inequity.

Suggested Citation

  • Seow Ting Lee, 2023. "Vaccine diplomacy: nation branding and China’s COVID-19 soft power play," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 64-78, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:pbapdi:v:19:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41254-021-00224-4
    DOI: 10.1057/s41254-021-00224-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41254-021-00224-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41254-021-00224-4?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. Pierre-Bruno Ruffini, 2017. "Science and Diplomacy – A New Dimension of International Relations," Post-Print hal-02970666, HAL.
    3. 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.
    4. Hak Yin Li & Seanon Wong, 2018. "The evolution of Chinese public diplomacy and the rise of think tanks," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(1), pages 36-46, February.
    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. 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.

    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. Lucie Lu & Miles Williams, 2025. "Attention Versus Handshakes: Pathways of Influence in China's Foreign Aid and Loans," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 655-674, April.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    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. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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).
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    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:pbapdi:v:19:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41254-021-00224-4. 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: http://www.palgrave.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.