The Role of China's Health Diplomacy in Expanding its Soft Power in the Era of the Corona Virus

Subject Areas : International Relations

Mahdi  Mohammad Nia ¹ (Phd. in Strategic Studies, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Ayatollah Boroujerdi University)
Masoomeh  Papi ² (Master's degree in International Relations from Imam Khomeini International University (RA), Qazvin, Iran)

Received: 2022-09-07 Accepted : 2023-10-16 Published : 2023-08-23

Keywords: ", Soft Power", China", corona virus", vaccine", health diplomacy",

Abstract :

With the emergence of the Covid-19 virus in 2019, international politics became an arena of competition and cooperation between great powers on how to deal with this virus. In this regard, one of the most important areas of competition between the great powers has been the attempt to gain soft influence and accreditation to its international face through health assistance and consultation in connection with the control of this virus. As the country that was the main source of the corona virus,China tried to restore its international image and reduce the global psychological pressure by putting the development of its health diplomacy on the foreign policy agenda through the global distribution of the vaccine and the provision of health assistance and advice to different countries. On this basis, the main question of the article is, how has China's health diplomacy in the global fight against the corona virus affected the development of this country's soft power? In response to the mentioned question, the hypothesis of the article is that "the development of China's health diplomacy in the form of distributing vaccines, providing advice and providing health aid to third world countries to deal with the corona virus, has been a tool for geopolitical influence, the development of soft power in the post-corona environment and presenting a benevolent image of this country."The present article has been written with a descriptive and analytical approach and the method of data collection has been library, the use of specialized magazines and reputable Internet sites.