The three leading companies in the country, China National Pharmaceutical Group Sinopharm, Sinovac Biotech and CanSino Biologics, have completed contracts to distribute vaccines to Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.
Experts say political will and industry capacity can help China play an important role in improving global vaccine supply.
However, questions about the product’s effectiveness and data transparency remain open.
In a meeting last week, health officials said China has not yet approved any domestic vaccines for mass vaccination.
Doses of the vaccine developed by China have begun to be shipped around the world, to countries that allow the country to conduct clinical trials.
Brazil and Indonesia have received Sinovac shipments in recent weeks.
Egypt received the first batch of Sinopharm’s vaccine, shipped from a factory in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where clinical trials took place.
The other trial site is Bahrain, which has also approved the vaccine.
An Indonesian woman stands in front of a billboard advertising protective masks.
Countries that have signed contracts to buy Chinese vaccines include Mexico, Morocco, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore and Türkiye.
According to health security researcher and associate professor at City University of Hong Kong, Nicholas Thomas, 2020 was a difficult year for China when the outbreak broke out in Wuhan city.
`The successful deployment of vaccines around the world will help the country ease tensions,` he said.
Coordinating and balancing between domestic needs and foreign commitments is a task Beijing needs to do well, according to Xiaoqing Boynton, vice president of consulting firm Albright Stonebridge in Washington.
`China currently has no community outbreaks, so domestic vaccination can be prioritized. However, the world is recording many epidemic hotspots, including areas of strategic importance to the country.`
At a briefing on December 19, National Health Commission official Zheng Zhongwei said China had made `appropriate arrangements when planning vaccine production` for distribution abroad.
Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, two pharmaceutical companies that have licensed vaccines in the US and UK, Sinopharm and Sinovac use inactivated virus technology, which is familiar to manufacturers in developing countries.
`If vaccines work well and are simple to produce, it creates great potential for local companies to supply their own for their own region or country,` said John Donnelly, director of Vaccine Consulting in the US.
Mr. Xiaoqing Boynton said: `This is a unique opportunity for Chinese industry to demonstrate its qualifications, in terms of safety and quality standards, and become a trusted global vaccine supplier.`