Sri Lanka – China adopts “Vaccine Diplomacy” to strengthen its international relations

As part of its diplomatic efforts to strengthen its international and regional relations and support its economic and commercial interests, China has shipped hundreds of thousands of coronavirus vaccines to Sri Lanka over the past few months, and Sri Lanka received several days ago 600,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharma vaccine, in addition to Beijing’s promise to ship increasing numbers of Corona vaccines to several countries around the world, especially in Asia. Politicians and activists pointed out that China is looking to highlight its global health leadership for low and middle-income countries, despite Beijing not providing accurate data and information about the effectiveness of its vaccines, in addition to questions about the transparency of the Sri Lankan government in deals to purchase Chinese vaccines at a higher price, especially since there is a possibility to buy vaccines at a much lower price.