4 April 2020, NIICE Commentary 3914
Dr. Sriparna Pathak
The world is undergoing a tremendous crisis since the eruption of COVID-19. Beyond the implications of the spread of the virus in the realm of health, international politics is also undergoing drastic changes. Beyond exhibiting how even an organization like the World Health Organization (WHO) has severe shortcomings – as it did not sound a warning immediately after the virus first emerged in Wuhan, uncritically repeated initial information from Chinese authorities, while ignoring repeated warnings from doctors in Taiwan; the COVID19 is also shaping China’s leadership role in international relations. Despite the fact that the virus originated in China, it has tried to shift the blame to Italy as well as to the US. Beyond the blame game, China is now engaging in various forms of novel diplomacy ranging from shaping of narratives to what is being called as the facemask diplomacy.
China’s facemask diplomacy includes its attempts to assuage the world from the COVID-19 crisis by its donations and sales of protective gear, testing kits, medical personnels and N97 facemasks to the world. Chinese medical supplies have already been sent to countries like Italy, France and the Netherlands in Europe, and to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal among others in South Asia. It has also offered such aid to countries in West Asia, Central Asia and Africa. China has been responsive in previous global crises situations as well, but as stated by officials from Beijing, the current Chinese efforts are its biggest since 1949. According to Luo Zhaohui, the Deputy Foreign Minister of China, Beijing offers emergency aid including test kits and masks to as many as 83 countries because “China empathises and is willing to offer what we can to countries in need”.
In South Asia, China has offered to help build makeshift COVID-19 hospitals in India, while in Bangladesh, the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka stated that China will provide Bangladesh with medical supplies to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak. Pakistan reopened its borders with China in March to accept Chinese medical supplies. In Nepal, a contract had been signed with a private business group to import necessary Coronavirus testing kits, masks and medical equipment from China.
While public perception in most South Asian countries remains negative about China’s role in leading the world out of the COVID-19 crisis, fact remains that the attempts to provide medical supplies to countries in need is laudable. However, the laudable steps taken by China are marred with several controversies. To begin with, countries such as the Netherlands has recalled over half a million face masks it imported from China after finding they were faulty. In Spain, efforts to roll out rapid testing kits bought from companies in China hit a roadblock when the first order of around 9,000 failed to meet specifications and had to be returned. Similar concerns have been raised by other countries such as Georgia and Czech Republic.
In addition to this, French officials have complained that the masks meant for being sold to France were diverted to the US. Jean Rottner, the head of France’s Grand Est. region ordered five million masks from China, out of which only two million arrived. Officials complain that the rest has been diverted to the US by China which pays three to four times for the same consignment. China, therefore, stands accused of selling medical masks to the highest bidder in such times.
China has also been accused of hoarding masks when the pandemic had just began spreading out to the world. More than 2.46 billion masks, protective equipment and other types of PPE kit were inspected by the National Customs in China between January 24 and February 29. As per news reports, Chinese organisations operating in Australia sent bulk medical supplies to China during the height of the crisis. Chinese owned property developer Risland Australia alone reportedly flew tonnes of medical supplies to Wuhan in February, while Greenland Group re-tasked all employees to repurchase face masks, hand sanitisers, thermometers and anti-bacterial wipes. The company bought about three million surgical masks and sent them to China in January and February.
In South Asia, where medical infrastructure in most countries remains poor and shoddy and populaces remain vulnerable to rapid contagion of the virus, similar stories have begun to emanate. In April itself, the government of Nepal cancelled a contract to import testing kits and medical supplies from China. Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population has issued instructions that the COVID-19 Rapid Diagnostic Kit imported from China should not be used after doubts emerged about their reliability. This is going to severely affect testing in the country as the kits imported from China represent about 90 per cent of all the rapid diagnostic testing kits available in Nepal.
In Pakistan, which refused to evacuate its students stuck in Wuhan to show solidarity with China, China stated that it will donate 300,000 face masks, 10,000 protective suits and USD 4 millions to Islamabad to fight the virus. However, when the consignment from China landed on April 3, it was found that China had sent masks made out of underwear. To make matters worse, the Sindh provincial government had sent the masks to hospitals without verification. In Bangladesh, immediately post Spain’s complaint regarding the faulty medical kits, the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka stated that none of the 40,500 test kits sent to Bangladesh are from Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology – the company which was under question by the Spanish government for supplying the sub-standard kits. However, Bangladeshi authorities have stated that it will use the Chinese equipment only after thorough examination of the products by its own experts. Dr. Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the Director of Bangladesh’s Institute of Epidomology said that if any equipment is found faulty by Bangladesh’s medical team, they will be returned. China has also sent its first batch of emergency medical supplies to Maldives in March, as tweeted by Beijing’s envoy to Male. No complaint of faulty equipment has emerged so far from Male.
While China tries to shape the global COVID-19 narrative and soft power diplomacy by selling medical supplies to the world, fact remains that it is already under a big scanner for its cover up of the initial emergence and spread of the virus in Wuhan. Selling faulty equipment to countries in need is equivalent to pushing the buying countries which have already spent economic resources in these times of extreme economic turmoil, further into the throes of the pandemic which threatens the existence of the world as we knew it. China definitely needs to play a better and more responsible role during such crises if it really wants a leadership role in international relations.
