A Study Of China's Emergency Health Diplomacy In The 21st Century

Since the 21st century,China has experienced many international public health crises,such as SARS,Ebola and COVID-19.China’s diplomacy has played an important role in emergency handling.China’s emergency health diplomacy started after the SARS epidemic broke out and has experienced a process from passive participation to exploratory participation.Based on national security and international pressure,China begins to explore the establishment of emergency health diplomacy mechanism and begins to emphasize international health cooperation.At the multilateral level,China starts to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the technical field within the framework of the World Health Organization.At the same time,based on the existing regional multilateral framework and consensus,China and the East Asian region explore new mechanisms for health emergency response and actively carry out health emergency cooperation.At the bilateral level,China mainly focuses on seeking international understanding and support and resuming foreign exchanges as soon as possible.During the post-Sars era,China’s emergency health system has been continuing to improve,and its bilateral and multilateral health diplomacy have been continuing to develop.China’s assistance to West African countries in fighting the Ebola epidemic is a key point in the development of China’s emergency health diplomacy.During the epidemic period,China not only launches external emergency health assistance several months earlier than the World Health Organization did,but also quickly launches its domestic emergency health mechanism after the World Health Organization declared the epidemic a PHEIC.Besides,China innovates the emergency health diplomacy operation mechanism and strengthens global emergency health cooperation.At the multilateral level,China actively participates in the construction of international health mechanisms and carries out multilateral emergency health actions under the framework of the United Nations and the World Health Organization.At the bilateral level,in addition to the unprecedented emergency health assistance to epidemic countries,China has also strengthened cooperation in the field of health with the United States and Europe.China’s emergency health diplomacy has positive effects,and enhances China’s soft power in the field of global health governance.After the Ebola period,China’s health diplomacy entered a period of rapid development,expanding the scope of health diplomacy and strengthening health diplomacy at the global,regional and sub-regional levels.COVID-19 has been the largest international public health crisis since the 21 st century.China’s emergency health diplomacy is initially mature,taking into account domestic and global health security.According to the epidemic situation,China has constantly adjusted the diplomatic mechanism of emergency health,from “three-level linkage” to “CCCP-Administration in charge”,and the mechanism has been better refined and improved.Diplomatic actions show the characteristics of leading participation in global emergency health governance and multilateral integration and dual multilateral results.At the multilateral level,China has always cooperated fully with the World Health Organization and maintained its authority.At the same time,China has conducted comprehensive multilateral consultations,exchanges and cooperation at the global,regional and sub-regional levels.At the bilateral level,China has strengthened exchanges online with other countries.At the same time,China has actively implemented multilateral diplomatic achievements and carried out the largest-scale external emergency health assistance and development cooperation since the founding of the People’s Republic of China.Emergency health diplomacy is an important part of China’s diplomacy and global health diplomacy.In the 21 st century,China’s emergency health diplomacy mechanism development trend tends to be hierarchical,multi-dimensional,standardized and open,and the emergency health diplomacy actions are characterized by direction change,regional expansion,mode diversification and content enrichment.It is found that the situation of international public health emergencies,the factors of global health governance system,China’s willingness and ability to participate in emergency health diplomacy are the important drivers that affect the development and change of China’s emergency health diplomacy in the 21st century.