Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Chinese Military Seeks Image Makeover by Giving Medical Aid to Maritime
Sovereignty Rivals

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI - China's armed forces are giving anti-COVID medical aid this
   month to soften their image in four countries that dispute Beijing's
   military-enforced control over a resource-rich sea.

   The Chinese People's Liberation Army sent COVID-19 containment supplies
   to 12 countries by air force planes, state-run China Global Television
   Network reported. Among them were South China Sea rim countries Brunei,
   Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Armed forces from
   all12nationsasked for help, the network said.

   Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines dispute features in the 3.5
   million-square-kilometer South China Sea with Beijing. Indonesia has no
   land dispute but stops Chinese vessels that enter waters near one of
   its outlying archipelagos. These smaller states normally equate the
   Chinese military -- the world's third strongest -- with ships, hangars
   and aircraft flyovers used to assert control in the disputed waters.

   Aid for COVID-19 outbreaks will soften that image, analysts say.

   "It has a very positive publicity effect," said HuangKwei-bo, vice dean
   of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in
   Taipei. "The impact of this will probably be stronger than, for
   example, sending a military ship to another country's port, because it
   relates directly to human health."

   A Chinese transport aircraft took medical masks, goggles, protective
   clothing and waterproof isolation to Brunei on May 12, the official
   Xinhua News Agency reported. The People's Liberation Army held
   videoconferences with counterparts in Indonesia and Malaysia this month
   to share experience fighting the disease, Xinhua said.

   These Southeast Asian states will accept the Chinese military's aid and
   see it as China's campaign to look more humanitarian than its longtime
   geopolitical rival the United States, said Derek Grossman, a senior
   defense analyst with the RAND Corp. research institution. Beijing hopes
   to best Washington in amounts of aid and speed of delivery, he said.

.