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JAKARTA: Indonesia is betting that Chinese-made coronavirus vaccines can help it tackle one of the worst outbreaks in Asia, but analysts warn it’s a gamble that could leave them with a high-interest diplomatic note.
Beijing has promised the poorest nations priority access to their vaccines, in an attempt to repair a picture tarnished by the pandemic, which began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
This week, Indonesia received 1.2 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine made by China’s Sinovac, and another 1.8 million will arrive next month, but experts say this access could have conditions.
“China’s ‘vaccine diplomacy’ is not unconditional,” Ardhitya Eduard Yeremia and Klaus Heinrich Raditio said in an article published this month by the Singapore-based Yusof Ishak Institute.
“Beijing can use its vaccine donations to advance its regional agenda, particularly on sensitive issues like its claims in the South China Sea.”
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Indonesia began human trials of the Sinovac vaccine this summer and it has not yet been approved by Chinese or Indonesian regulators.
Jakarta has signed deals for more than 350 million doses of vaccines from different suppliers, including AstraZeneca, but most will come from Chinese suppliers, including Sinovac and Sinopharm, according to a Duke University vaccine tracking project.
“The vaccine cooperation with China is the most prominent,” said Evan Laksmana, senior researcher at the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“That creates potential implications for the future (and) to what extent Indonesia would be highly dependent on the Chinese medical supply chain in the long term.”
Indonesia, the fourth most populous nation in the world with 270 million people, has reported more than half a million coronavirus infections and around 18,000 deaths. Low test rates mean that these official figures are believed to be far below the truth.
‘INTELLIGENT BALANCING GAME’
China is Indonesia’s main trading partner and the Southeast Asian nation is home to numerous projects, including a high-speed rail line, which are part of the global infrastructure-building bombardment of the Beijing Belt and Road.
However, the relationship has its problems.
In January, Indonesia deployed fighter jets and warships to patrol the Natuna Islands after the Chinese coast guard and fishing boats entered the area on the edge of the South China Sea.
Since then, Jakarta has toned down its response and resorted to diplomatic protests.
The United States views Jakarta as a key strategic partner in its fight against China’s growing influence and controversial military build-up in the South China Sea.
“Right now Indonesia is playing a fairly clever game of balancing to avoid identification with just one of the two great powers,” said Marcus Mietzner, associate professor at the Australian National University.
“(Indonesia) has already made it known that it would not accept a possible Chinese request to build a military base in Indonesia. While it is unclear whether China actually made such a request, its rejection was noted with great satisfaction in western capitals.”
But with the epidemic rising in the US, Washington is concentrating on fighting the coronavirus at home and may not be able to pull Beijing out of its vaccine diplomacy blitz.
And despite some disputes, the relationship with China remains crucial for Jakarta, and it may find itself in diplomatic debt to Beijing due to vaccines.
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“So far, there has yet to be any serious quid pro quo regarding the vaccine,” said researcher Laksmana.
“But everyone in Jakarta knows … it would be more difficult for us to make a series of foreign policy moves or something else that could (damage) the relationship with China.”
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