Vaccine diplomacy

Using COVID-19 vaccines as a tool of coercion is counterproductive and dangerous.

If vaccine diplomacy is the new great game, it is being played wrong by all sides, with the risk that no one will be left a winner.

If vaccine diplomacy is to pay off, it needs to be based on firm bilateral foundations.

Beyond their moral responsibility, Japan and the United States have compelling interests in doing more together to battle COVID-19 internationally.

Bilateral cooperation is slowly beginning to move beyond the economic realm that has long been its foundation.

How has China approached vaccine diplomacy in Southeast Asia?

Both China and the United States can and should do more to ensure equitable access to vaccines around the world.

An alliance between Western technology and Indian manufacturing capabilities may still be crucial to produce cheap vaccines for the world.

Mongolia has received vaccines not only from neighbors China and Russia, but from India and COVAX as well.

Japan has been pushing for Quad efforts to match its own vaccine diplomacy: more inclusive, less strategic.

Like many Asian countries, Seoul is having troubling sourcing vaccines. But unlike its neighbors, South Korea has so far refused to turn to a ready supplier: China.