Opinion | China’s pandemic success and vaccine diplomacy are no guarantee of a better Indo-Pacific reputation
- Countries that have handled the pandemic well at home have generally seen such competence rewarded with improved standing abroad
- China is the lone exception, proving that having your house in order does not guarantee a pat on the back internationally
Experts across the Indo-Pacific are not so convinced, though. The Covid-19 pandemic has seen China’s global reputation sour despite getting the virus under control domestically, in stark contrast to the kudos other countries have received for similar success.
The results showed that competence at home was noticed abroad. The reputations of Taiwan, New Zealand and Vietnam in particular improved as a result of their Covid-19 response.
Others did not fare so well. The United States and Russia, judged as having struggled to contain the virus, saw their reputations overseas deteriorate the most of all those surveyed. Meanwhile, those thought to have handled the pandemic fairly effectively saw virtually no change in their international standing.
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China was the only nation to buck this trend. Despite surveyed experts rating its domestic response to the pandemic as above average, gains did not materialise in its reputation abroad.