India's Observer Research Foundation published on 13 August 2022 a commentary titled "Will the New US Strategy Weaken China's Influence in Africa?" by Abhishek Mishra.
The author says the new US Africa strategy strikes the right notes and attempts to downplay the perception of Africa as an area of great power rivalry with China. Going forward, its success is contingent on Washington's ability to deliver on its promises by allocating the necessary resources.
The most recent issue of Asia Policy published by The National Bureau of Asian Research contains a series of essays that examine different facets of the China-Africa relationship from the perspective of African states.
The essays are:
--Chinese Vaccine Diplomacy in Africa by Cobus van Staden.
--Changing Realities: China-Africa Infrastructure Development by Mandira Bagwandeen.
--The Digital Silk Road: Connecting Africa with New Norms of Digital Development by Ovigwe Eguegu.
--Chinese ICT and Smart City Initiatives in Kenya by Bulelani Jili.
--The China Effect: Democracy and Development in the 21st Century by Obert Hodzi.
--Status Complicated: In Zambia, China-Africa Is a Partnership Washington Should Not Necessarily Envy by Chiponda Chimbelu.
--China in Mauritius: The Telling of the Chinese Story by Roukaya Kasenally.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published on 28 April 2022 an analysis titled "How Russia's Hollow Humanitarianism Hurt Its Vaccine Diplomacy in Africa" by Matthew T. Page and Paul Stronski.
Russia's vaccine diplomacy in Africa largely failed for a variety of reasons, including its small development presence on the continent. Russia provides marginal amounts of assistance to Africa outside of the $20 billion in Soviet-era debt that it has forgiven.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published on 10 December 2021 an analysis titled "Russian COVID-19 Diplomacy in Africa: A Mixed Bag" by Paul Stronski.
Russia set high COVID-19 expectations in Africa but has experienced delays in delivering the vaccines or reasonable financing terms to purchase them. The program has mostly been a year of misfires.
South Africa's Centre for Investigative Journalism, amaBhungane, published on 14 December 2021 an article titled "Beijing's Soft Power: China Offers 300,000 Vaccine Jabs to SANDF Soldiers" by Tebogo Tshwane.
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has offered 300,000 free doses of the CoronaVac inoculation manufactured by Sinovac to the South African Defence Force (SANDF). The donation is part of a soft-power push by Beijing for global influence. Yet the South African military denies any plans to roll out the Chinese vaccines. South Africa's vaccine program consists of one manufactured by Pfizer and the other by Johnson and Johnson. The South African Health Products Authority has not approved CoronaVac as part of the national program.
Bridge Consulting recently updated its "China COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker." Less than 13 percent of China's global vaccine distribution has gone to Africa and most of that has been in the form of sales.
The Diplomat published on 24 March 2021 an analysis titled "The Logic of China's Vaccine Diplomacy" by Ivana Karaskova and Veronika Blablova, both at the Association for International Affairs in Prague.
The article underscores the exceedingly modest vaccine contributions that China has made to Africa. Except for large purchases of Chinese vaccine by Egypt and Morocco and a smaller one by Zimbabwe, China has made small donations to a number of African countries, predominantly distributed through the COVAX initiative, an international effort led by the World Health Organization. China has engaged in a major publicity campaign whenever it makes a small contribution in Africa.
By contrast, the United States has not delivered any vaccine to Africa but is by far the largest financial backer of COVAX. It has delivered about $2.5 billion to COVAX and pledged a total of $4 billion so far. Organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have provided many millions more. COVAX has the funding, but is woefully short of vaccine to deliver around the world. This situation should change in the coming months as global supply improves.
Bridge Consulting Company in Beijing is maintaining a "COVID-19 Vaccines Tracker" that monitors the delivery of Chinese vaccines to countries around the world. What is surprising so far is the small number of vaccines that have been delivered to Africa.
The Council on Foreign Relations blog posted on 6 January 2021 an analysis titled "Vaccine Diplomacy: China and Sino Pharm in Africa" by Neil Edwards, Open Source African media analyst at Novetta.
China's vaccine diplomacy in Africa is a high risk, high reward venture. If Sino Pharm's vaccine restores a sense of normalcy across Africa, China will be praised. However, if the vaccine proves ineffective or creates unforeseen health effects, China's image could be damaged.
