China’s Health Diplomacy

After there was a lot of hullabaloo, both good and bad, about China’s efforts in Haiti – China was first on the scene! But wait, it was only there to save other Chinese! -  I was reminded that a country’s healthcare might is one of its most powerful diplomatic tools.

Being able to send soldiers into a warzone sends a message.  But, bringing medical aid to a war zone sends a different kind of message; lets just say that Afghanistanis trust Italian medical doctor Alberto Cairo more than they do military personnel.

So, I was glad to find a great paper by the Jamestown Foundation that describes how China has used it’s medical expertise, in the past, to form ties with Africa, and how the continued presence of that health diplomacy, ironically, may be threatened by the modernization of China’s healthcare system.

Article: “CHINA’S SOFT POWER IN AFRICA: FROM THE “BEIJING CONSENSUS” TO HEALTH DIPLOMACY,” The Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief: Volume 5, Issue 21 (October 13, 2005), By Drew Thompson

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“China has a long history of conducting active “heath diplomacy” programs with African and Middle Eastern countries. China’s early relations with many African nations included significant aid in the form of infrastructure, scholarships for African elites to study in Chinese universities and the deployment of teams of doctors. Today, these institutions remain, either as direct government support or under the auspices of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum.

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China’s capacity to send large numbers of medical doctors to Africa is limited, and the program faces an uncertain future over the long term. Many provincial budgets are increasingly stretched by a shrinking tax base since rural tax reforms have been implemented. The health needs of many Chinese are also not being met and government doctors are increasingly called upon to deal with public health issues at home. Additionally, given that the Chinese medical system is increasingly privatized, more doctors are less inclined to accept a two-year posting in Africa, particularly because they currently subsidize their meager government stipend with income generated through patient fees and medicine sales.”

There is a good research question to be explored here – Is it possible to be both a economic and military global superpower and to engage in effective health diplomacy?