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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (C) attends a virtual open briefing of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) related to the COVID-19 vaccine distribution, in Beijing, China, February 17, 2021. /Yin Bogu
Editor's note: Andrew Korybko is a Moscow-based American political analyst. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi briefed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on February 17 about what he described as his country's plans for a people's vaccine. His speech concerned the leading efforts that China is making to ensure that everyone in the world has equal access to affordable vaccines, which he described as a public good per Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision.
These include participating in the global COVAX initiative to this end, joining the UN Group of Friends' initiative to donate vaccines to UN peacekeepers, using its strength in industrial supply chains to produce more vaccines at home and abroad, and providing vaccines to developing countries like Palestine, Somalia, Iraq, South Sudan and Syria in response to their requests.
China isn't seeking to achieve geopolitical or economic benefits or to attach political strings to its epidemiological aid, but purely to ensure that vaccines become an accessible and affordable public good. People must be on the front and in the center of the world's increasingly coordinated response to COVID-19 vaccinations.
To this end, international cooperation must be improved, and countries currently caught in conflicts must urgently abide by UNSC Resolution 2532 from July 2020 to step away from the battlefield, join the proposed global ceasefire and collectively fight COVID-19 instead. Until this happens, disadvantaged groups including women and children might not be able to receive inoculations, thus worsening their already tragic plight.
China's concept of a people's vaccine is nothing short of revolutionary. Just like the country is officially a People's Republic in which society owns the means of production and everything that the nation does is for the benefit of its people, so too will its COVID-19 vaccination strategy follow a similar outlook.
Vaccines mustn't be hoarded by developed countries whose elite prioritize inoculating themselves before everyone else, but should be equitably distributed to everyone without discrimination. If anything, one can argue that developing and especially conflict-ravaged nations might even deserve to receive this before anyone else considering how desperate their situation already is and the number of lives at risk the longer that the world waits.
A medical worker checks the blood pressure before vaccinating a girl at a children's hospital in Chongqing, southwest China, February 16, 2021. /Getty
It's important to remember that it was former Chairman Mao Zedong who articulated the now-famous Three Worlds Theory many decades ago. This visionary statesman postulated that developing nations are stronger if they work together. Since China is the world's largest developing country, it naturally sought to enhance these global efforts.
Since then, China's international development aid has become an important part of its historic mission. The Belt Road Initiative (BRI) can also be conceptualized as a manifestation of this theory in practice. Foreign Minister Wang Yi built upon this vision by announcing China's proposal for a people's vaccine, which is the next logical development in China's global outreach efforts and the need of the hour.
Developing countries need someone to champion their interests in the international community, which is the role that China has proudly assumed for itself by virtue of being the biggest one among them. Its role in the UNSC guarantees that their voices will be heard and their needs met. China's astronomical economic rise over the past several decades proves that it's capable of accomplishing what was previously considered to be impossible by many.
With this in mind, the seemingly impossible goal of ensuring accessible and affordable vaccinations for all could also be met by the People's Republic of China, especially by relying on its strength in industrial supply chains like China's Foreign Minister announced that it's doing.
Many people in developed countries forget about the plight of their fellow humans in developing ones, just because it's not always broadcast on TV in their living rooms or talked about by their favorite online media outlets doesn't mean that they're not suffering. On the contrary, the situation has only gotten worse, which is why Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed that everyone pool their efforts to direct the global shipping network towards delivering vaccines to Africa as soon as possible.
China is championing these people's causes. Sooner rather than later, the people's vaccine will be available to everyone and people from different countries will benefit from it.
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