1472020 Beware of Russian and Chinese Ald in Response tothe Coronavirus
Beware of Bad Samaritans
China and Russia are sending medical aid to Italy and other coronavirus-stricken
countries, but their motives aren't so altruistic.
BY ELISABETH BRAW | MARCH 90, 2020, 5:9 PM
Human lives take on a rare starring role, and sometimes even geopolitical
adversaries assist one another. After devastating earthquakes hit Iran in 2003
and 2012, even the United States pitched in to help. But during the coronavirus
pandemic, the two most energetic Samaritans—Russia and China—are using their
ostensible assistance for geopolitical gains.
H umanitarian disasters ordinarily provide brief respites of global cooperation.
Following a recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, the Russian government sent Italy nine aircraft and
more than 100 experts, along with medical supplies. Having initially received no help
from fellow European Union member states, in desperation Italy—the fourth-largest
contributor to the EU budget—had turned to Russia. (Germany, France, and Austria
have since sent millions of face masks to Italy; the Czech Republic has sent a few
htpslforeignpalicy.com/2020/03/30iussia-china-coranavinue- geopolitics! 181472020 Beware of Russian and Chinese Ald in Response tothe Coronavirus
thousand protective suits. Germany has flown several dozen Italian and French patients
to German hospitals. Poland has sent twelve doctors.)
When the much-anticipated Russian delivery arrived, however, the Italians discovered
that the vast majority of the supplies were useless for coronavirus treatment. It was like
a plot out of Occupied, the hit Norwegian television series about a mysterious takeover
of Norway.
“Of those Russian supplies, 80 percent were completely useless or of little use to Italy. In
other words, the delivery was more like a pretext,” an Italian government official told
the leading newspaper La Stampa. According to the official, the Russian delivery
contained, for example, equipment for bacteriological disinfection and a field
laboratory for chemical-biological sterilization—not the ventilators and personal
protective equipment so desperately needed by the Italians.
[Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how
it’s affecting countries around the world.]
The two most energetic Samaritans—Russia and China—are
using their ostensible assistance for geopolitical gains.
‘The Kremlin's aid is indeed rather unusual. The medical experts were dispatched by the
Russian defense ministry, not the health ministry, La Stampa reported. What’s more,
many are senior biological, chemical, and nuclear officers in the medical branch of the
Russian armed forces—hardly the front-line medics ordinarily dispatched to help fight
a humanitarian crisis.
As of this writing, the Russian officers are based in the Bergamo area of Italy. According
toa letter by Russia’s ambassador published in La Stampa, the Russian experts will
initially sanitize overcrowded assisted living facilities there. Bergamo, the Italian city
worst hit by the coronavirus, is located less than two hours from Vicenza, the site of a
major US. military base. The officers are traveling “along NATO roads,” a Russian TV
anchor noted. In his letter, the ambassador—who confirmed the officers’ biological,
chemical, and nuclear expertise—pointed out that the Russians are risking their lives.
He's right: The Russian experts could succumb to the coronavirus on the Bergamo front
line. To date, COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has claimed the lives of
51 Italian doctors. The presence of Russian military personnel in a NATO country,
htpslforeignpalicy.com/2020/03/30iussia-china-coranavinue- geopolitics! 261472020 Beware of Russian and Chinese Ald in Response tothe Coronavirus
however, especially near a US. air base, raises fears that the Russians will use their stay
to gather intelligence.
What makes the mission even more mind-boggling is the fact that Italy is one of the top
troop contributors to current NATO out-of-area operations and has 166 soldiers
stationed in Latvia as part of NATO’s enhanced forward presence, an effort to deter
Russia. Around the same time as the Russian officers arrived in Italy, NATO jets
intercepted a Russian military aircraft near NATO airspace. Italy, a founding member of
NATO, is thus combating its worst post-World War II crisis with the aid of NATO’s main
adversary. That raises further questions about the purpose of the Russians’ visit and
whether it will influence Italian attitudes toward NATO. Referring to the Russian
supplies, Conte has insisted it won't: “It’s inconceivable that our geopolitical
arrangement would be conditioned by this equipment,” he told the Italian Senate on
March 26.
Italy, a founding member of NATO, is thus combating its worst
post-World War II crisis with the aid of NATO’s main adversary.
‘Meanwhile, China has dispatched medical supplies and a few medical staff, too.
Chinese authorities made a big deal out a March 12 flight that carried—as announced by
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio—31 tons of equipment, including 40 ventilators.
Since the initial flight, the Chinese have sent a few more supplies, including 30
ventilators on March 25. But for Italy, where nearly 100,000 people have been infected
with the coronavirus and more than 10,000 have been killed by it, that’s a drop in the
bucket.
LEARN MORE
htpslforeignpalicy.com/2020/03/30iussia-china-coranavinue- geopolitics! a61472020 Beware of Russian and Chinese Ald in Response tothe Coronavirus
Were the Chinese true friends of Italy, they would have sent tens of thousands of
ventilators. What's more, the Chinese supplies weren't exactly a charitable gift. While
some came from the Chinese Red Cross, the Italians had to buy others. To add insult to
injury, around the same time that the first flight arrived, Chinese state media outlets
began circulating a rumor that the COVID-19 outbreak had actually originated in Italy.
China has sent supplies to other countries, too. The deliveries are, however, paltry for a
government with massive manufacturing at its disposal and whose bungling of the
initial outbreak led to the virus going global. A million face masks here, a few hundred
thousand there, and a few doctors are not much for a country that accounted for 50
percent of global face mask production in 2019 and whose daily face mask production
skyrocketed to an astounding 110 million in February. By contrast, Albania, a poor
country with fewer than 3 million inhabitants, has sent the Italians 30 doctors and
nurses.
For China, the amount of aid needed doesn’t seem to matter:
Beijing is using the deliveries as a public relations opportunity.
China’s assistance is also distinctly modest compared with the assistance Germany
(which has more than 60,000 coronavirus infections itself) and other European
countries are belatedly providing their worst-hit neighbors. But for China, the amount
of aid needed doesn’t seem to matter: Beijing is using the deliveries as a public relations
opportunity.
With great fanfare, face masks have been dispatched to Spain, France, Serbia, and the
EU ina very public show of Chinese soft power. On March 20, the Czech Republic
received Beijing's deliveries on a Chinese military plane, an event widely covered by
regime-friendly media. One day later, Chinese state television CGTN posted a YouTube
video showing the loading of a train that will carry further medical equipment there.
Unsurprisingly, Sweden has received no assistance from China. Instead, one of the
country’s hospitals had to secure philanthropic funding to buy Chinese medical gear.
Sweden happens to be China’s European béte noire, the result of its support for the
imprisoned Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai, who became a Swedish citizen in the
1990s. But the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy have received face masks from Huawei, the
telecommunications giant eager for more 5G contracts in Europe.
htpslforeignpalicy.com/2020/03/30iussia-china-coranavinue- geopolitics! 4061472020 Beware of Russian and Chinese Ald in Response tothe Coronavirus
‘Though an airplane would reach the desperate Spaniards (some 85,000 coronavirus
infections, more than 7,000 deaths) much faster, Beijing made sure that the Chinese
supplies currently heading for Spain would travel by train along the Belt and Road
route, a journey that takes 17 days.
The donated supplies are worth about $49,325, CGTN proudly reported. There was no
such fanfare about Madrid’s decision to purchase some $473 million worth of medical
supplies from Beijing, including coronavirus tests that turned out to be faulty, or the 1.3
million face masks the Dutch bought from China, half of which likewise turned out to
be defective.
Spain and Italy are considered soft targets for Chinese influence within the EU. On the
other hand, Serbia, though its infection rate is currently quite low, is a longtime
candidate for EU membership whose allegiance China wants to secure. As for the
donations to the Czech Republic, which is hardly a coronavirus hotbed, the country has
become a recent target of Chinese influence-peddling efforts.
Compare Moscow's and Beijing's behavior with the assistance countries ordinarily
provide during humanitarian disasters. When Japan was struck by an earthquake nine
years ago, 50 countries immediately offered assistance. They included archrival China,
which sent $4.5 million worth of aid. Indeed, during humanitarian disasters geopolitics
is normally suspended and good Samaritanism takes over.
During Iran’s 2012 earthquake, the U.S. government lifted sanctions, allowing American
organizations to send supplies. When Argentina’s San Juan submarine disappeared
three years ago, the Royal Navy—the pillar of the British war effort against Argentina
over the Falkland Islands in 1982—joined the search and rescue mission. The Royal
Navy has also helped search for missing Russian subs including the Kursk, which
claimed 118 submariners’ lives 20 years ago. And when the coronavirus broke out in
China, the EU and the U.S. government swiftly donated many tons of medical supplies.
While China wants to both sell goods and pry countries away from EU and NATO
solidarity, Russia's efforts are of a murkier nature. Whatever the true nature of the
Russian presence in Bergamo, Russia's sending military officers in response to a health
care emergency is clearly not an unselfish act; it's a move that will damage NATO in the
long run.
htpslforeignpalicy.com/2020/03/30iussia-china-coranavinue- geopolitics! 561472020 Beware of Russian and Chinese Ald in Response tothe Coronavirus
Russia’s sending military officers in response to a health care
emergency is clearly not an unselfish act; it’s a move that will
damage NATO in the long run.
“In the moment of need, the person who helps you is a friend,” Foreign Affairs
Undersecretary Manlio di Stefano told Italian radio on March 27, calling fears of the
Russian and Chinese aid “idiocy.”
‘The biblical good Samaritan gives to strangers in need while expecting nothing in
return. China and Russia have introduced a new category in humanitarian aid: the bad
Samaritan, The Chinese and Russians may be offering a helping hand, but unlike in the
Scriptures, they expect something in return.
‘True good Samaritans must prove to the needy—and to the world—that they still exist.
NATO has begun using its Strategic Airlift Capability program to transport coronavirus
supplies to member states. But that’s not enough to counter the bad Samaritans’
advance.
Ifa NATO member state lost even a few citizens in a military attack, the alliance would
immediately respond with all its might. It would dispatch equipment, troops, and
commanders from all its member states to the front lines, The coronavirus pandemic is
clearly not the conventional attack NATO was set up to counter, but it is Italy’s most
devastating crisis since NATO was founded. What's needed is a Mission Good Samaritan
—a massive NATO effort sending medical supplies and medics to the deadly front line
in Bergamo and beyond. That would put the bad Samaritans in their place.
Elisabeth Braw directs the Modern Det
rence project atthe Royal United Services Institute. Twitter: @elisabethbraw
TAGS: CHINA, CORONAVIRUS, EUROPE, GEOPOLITICS, PUBLIC HEALTH, RUSSIA
htpslforeignpalicy.com/2020/03/30iussia-china-coranavinue- geopolitics! 6