ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – An ominous new airport cargo terminal in the capital of Ethiopia is at the center of an extensive supply network that China is putting together to accelerate the delivery of coronavirus vaccines – and deepening its influence in the developing world.
On one side is a freezer with a soccer field to store scales of Chinese state-owned drug companies. On the other side is a control room with a wall of computer monitors where Chinese and Ethiopian technicians will detect the temperature of each group.
According to Ethiopian Airlines officials, more than one million doses of new Covid-19 vaccines from China will move here this week. Thousands of doses have already been passed, they and Ugandan officials said. More deliveries will be coming soon via a partnership between Chinese technology giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Ethiopian Airlines, state-owned airline officials said.
At stake is a potential prize for soft power: the benevolence of politicians and people in the developing world who need cheap Covid vaccines, and the prestige of being seen as a nation with the ability to act as a guardian of global public health.
China’s government, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises have been laying the groundwork for months for a vaccination push from Africa to the Middle East and Latin America. They have put together a supply chain that will maintain temperature control from the point of manufacture through each step of distribution – and further the “Health Silk Road”, as Beijing called it.