The US–China Rivalry: Health Diplomacy and Vaccine Donations Strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic has led China and the United States (US) to donate vaccines. This article explores how and why China and the US instrumentalise bilateral donations in their foreign policy strategies. While humanitarian concerns matter, political and economic interests push them to a more strategic reasoning. To test our hypotheses of humanitarian, geopolitical, and economic dimensions on bilateral donations, we employed ordinary least square and logit model regressions using a cross-sectional database with 214 countries containing data from various sources. The findings suggest that Washington has prioritised countries experiencing higher COVID-19 contamination rates and its trade import partners, while Beijing has focused on the poorest ones. Washington aided countries that historically disagreed with it in the United Nations General Assembly, while China has sent more vaccines to those politically aligned with Beijing. The US and China employ health diplomatic efforts to project power, and political dimensions are primarily considered when targeting countries to donate vaccines bilaterally.