Editor’s Note: Ikenna Emewu is a journalist and editor-in-chief of Africa China Economy Magazine, Nigeria. His main research interests are Chinese international relations and “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. The article reflects the views of the author and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Although it has never relaxed this obligation in the past, China has promoted multilateralism diplomacy even more this year.

The imperative of this goal has become more urgent as the world faces the daunting challenge of overcoming the coronavirus.

The COVID-19 attack came at the height of America’s Trumpian days of island diplomacy and isolationism. Former US President Donald Trump persuaded a German pharmaceutical company to produce new COVID-19 vaccines only for use in the United States. And that was just one of many examples of his isolationist diplomacy.

On the contrary, China, the world’s second-largest economy, has followed a different path that embraces and draws the entire world in the fight against the pandemic.

The latest move in the second week of September was the start of construction of a COVID-19 vaccine factory in Serbia, the first in Europe, turning the tide and moving the project forward faster to ensure the world really and quickly heals from the threat.

The laying of the foundation stone for the Belgrade plant further showed China’s determination to help the world with COVID-19 vaccines and make it easier and faster for countries to achieve collective immunity. .

Earlier, China concluded similar cooperation plans with Egypt, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates in May. It is global in scope on all continents except Oceania.

There is a diplomatic approach with a sure foot and a human face, unlike the deterministic approach of certain powerful countries which find it difficult to let themselves be carried away by the rest of the world.

The approach makes China stand out as exceptional among countries that have developed pandemic vaccines, including India, the United States and the United Kingdom.

At the cornerstone-laying event, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expressed pride and appreciation that his country, in conjunction with partners from China and the United Arab Emirates, “is trying and appears to be able to solve some global problems “.

From April 2022, when it is expected to come into service, the plant is expected to deploy 30 million doses per year, a volume that is billed to meet the vaccine needs of several countries in the region with the Sinopharm vaccine developed. in China.

After the World Health Organization (WHO) approved Sinopharm’s vaccine, Serbia began large-scale vaccination of its citizens with the Chinese vaccine in June.

China, as a deliberate policy, has started issuing foreign licenses to its global partnership countries and primarily to states parties to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) corridors to locally manufacture Sinopharm vaccines and improve health. more affordable and accessible.

This diplomatic wisdom has a number of intrinsic advantages, including industrial development of partner countries, improvement of their local economies and goodwill, in addition to accelerating the possibility of making vaccines available in countries that wouldn’t make them themselves.

China’s contribution to a healthier world through this approach cannot be overstated, and it is one of the most powerful ways to update WHO’s program on vaccine availability, especially for the world’s most vulnerable populations.

The World Trade Organization (WTO), through its director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in May challenged world powers and those that had developed COVID-19 vaccines to help expand manufacturing in countries poorer to ensure better and faster range. She argued that since travel restrictions affecting the movement of goods around the world were still in place due to the pandemic, it would ensure access to vaccines to be produced in more places around the world.

This response from China in nine countries, more than any other country, is a demonstration of being a responsible global citizen and underpins President Xi Jinping’s philosophy that China in its efforts to fight the pandemic must continue. the greater good and the shared benefits of science and wealth for all mankind.

Once full production is launched in these countries, factories will reach a production volume of over 120 million doses per year and on all continents, further ensuring their access to all regions of the world.

This initiative is a testament to China’s sincerity as promised at the start of the pandemic when the country provided significant financial support to the WHO, sent experts to more than 80 countries and medical supplies to many. others with a commitment to work with WHO and the world in every way possible to help free the world from the scourge.

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