Track: Healthcare Systems

Abstract

Vaccine diplomacy has been at the center of China's foreign policy after being heavily criticized for the initial spread of the virus and its approach in handling the disease. This paper examines the strategies of China's vaccine diplomacy in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, this paper uses descriptive qualitative methods where the phenomenon of vaccine diplomacy carried out by China will be associated with the theory of nation branding by using secondary data collection, the data were obtained from the official documents of the Chinese Government and the Indonesian Government, along with the official website registered with the Indonesian press council. Other supporting data were obtained from books and journals that were the source of writing this research. Analyzed using three indicators in nation branding by Anholt, namely substance, strategy, and symbolic actions, this paper found that the strategy built by China through vaccine diplomacy was able to deal with the pandemic first and have an impact on the deteriorating image of China. In addition, the strategy adopted is a form of branding for Chinese biotechnology companies, as well as a form of strengthening and expanding China's influence.