Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts
Year: 2024
DOI:
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The Health Silk Road in China’s Governance and Multilateralism: Towards a Role Adjustment
Anabela Rodrigues Santiago, and Prof. Dr. Paulo Afonso B. Duarte
ABSTRACT:
Though a late addition to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Health Silk Road (HSR) is a key corridor, complementing the land, sea, and digital components of the Initiative. Like the BRI, the HSR reflects China-led multilateralism, aiming to establish China as a proactive global health player. This article explores the HSR’s role in Chinese multilateralism, focusing on its response to emerging health governance challenges. Drawing on role theory, this study aims to bridge a gap in previous research that has overlooked the progress achieved by the HSR in modernising China’s domestic and international capacities for managing public health issues. The analysis aims to answer the following research question: How does the Health Silk Road contribute to adjusting China’s role conception as a global health provider to meet both domestic and external role expectations? In this context, we posit that China’s role as a health provider is evolving to meet both domestic and international expectations for a more effective and mature presence in global health governance. In conclusion, the pandemic has tested Beijing’s response and expedited its role adjustment towards becoming a global health player. Yet, despite these changes, China remains hard to define as a revisionist actor in global health governance.
keywords: Belt and Road Initiative, China, Global Health Governance, Health Silk Road, Multilateralism