Coercion or altruism: is China using its Covid vaccines to wield global power?

Beijing has donated millions of vaccines to developing countries but its largesse often comes with conditions attached

In May 2020, China's president, Xi Jinping, told the World Health Assembly its Covid-19 vaccines were a global public good", and their distribution would be part of Xi's vision of a shared future for the people of the world to work as one".

But in the months since, China's alleged vaccine diplomacy" has been consistently criticised internationally for being rolled out with conditions attached, with allegations of expatriate Chinese nationals being prioritised, and the distribution of vaccines seen as a coercive tool with which to wield geopolitical influence.