China's "health diplomacy" in light of the "Covid-19" pandemic: Between the centrality of global health considerations and the temptations of strategic opportunities

Abstract

diplomacy"; This paper deals with the manifestations of exploitation of the global crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic in China's foreign policy since the beginning of 2020, From this point, It looked forward to examining the geo-strategic dimensions of the diplomatic and propaganda move that China pursued in conjunction with its generous move toward the outside world throughout that crisis.

This paper proves that it is a mistake to stop at the surface of health diplomacy by looking at it as a situational or short-term response by Beijing to the Covid-19 crisis, On the other hand, it stressed that it forms part of a long-term strategy to strengthen China's geo-strategic position in the international system. Hence, its goals greatly exceed attempts to dismiss the accusations against China of covering up the source of the epidemic and the slow move to contain it in the beginning, to working to advance President Xi Jinping's vision of a "community with a shared future for mankind”, And to market the ability of the Chinese Communist regime and its political leadership to confront crises at home and abroad, and to highlight the inability of the regimes in Western countries and their failure to lead efforts to combat the epidemic in the world.