China’s public health diplomacy in the post Covid-19 era

ABSTRACT Public health diplomacy is a diplomatic practice that focuses on addressing public health crises, such as infectious diseases. It is mainly implemented by sovereign states and relies on the joint efforts of health and foreign affairs departments, under the leadership and coordination of international organizations such as the WHO. The purpose is to safeguard national interests and promote global health governance through international medical cooperation. Public health diplomacy has presented new characteristics in the 21st century: health and diplomacy are more and more deeply integrated, involving an increasing number of players; Competition, which co-exists with cooperation on public health, is intensifying in this century; Countries endow this diplomacy with their own characteristics by leveraging their advantages. Compared with that of European countries and America, China’s public health diplomacy started late, but has shown its unique characteristics.