Britain takes swipe at countries using vaccine diplomacy to secure influence

Foreign minister Dominic Raab said there was no doubt some countries were using jabs as diplomatic tool to buy influence

He said Britain did not support vaccine diplomacy and its contribution would come with no strings attached

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Workers unload Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine at Phnom Penh airport in Cambodia. File photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:56pm, 11 Jun 2021Updated: 8:06pm, 11 Jun 2021

British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Friday there was no doubt some countries were using vaccines as diplomatic tool to secure influence, and that Britain did not support so called vaccine diplomacy.

Asked whether he was concerned that China and Russia could use vaccines in exchange for influence in parts of the world, he said: “There’s no doubt there’s some of this is going about, and we don’t support vaccine diplomacy, let alone blackmail.

“We think that we’ve got a moral duty, but also a strong vested interest in getting the world vaccinated,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Cornwall, England.

“We would only think it was responsible to be promoting vaccines that the WHO has sanctioned as safe to distribute.

“But it’s a team effort. And we want the countries like China and Russia to come together to tackle the problems of pandemic, but also climate change, and also to respect the basic principles of international law.”

China currently has two WHO-approved Covid-19 vaccines, while a Russian-developed shot is waiting approval. Moscow said last week it expected that approval in the next couple of months.