China’s Covid Shots Give Beijing Soft-Power Lever Around the World - Bloomberg
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/china-s-covid-shots-give-beijing-soft-power-lever-around-the-world
Soft ?
Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy is clearly of the hardball variety. India’s desperately poor neighbors in South Asia were among those China targeted. On April 27, the same day Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi organized a virtual meeting with his counterparts in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe was in Bangladesh, pledging to enhance military cooperation. Within days, officials there gave emergency approval to the Sinopharm vaccine. Less than two weeks later, China’s ambassador to Bangladesh surprised his hosts with an unexpected warning: Any future cooperation with Australia, India, Japan, and the U.S. would inevitably damage the nation’s ties with China.