Imagen de China y las asociaciones de ultramar en el marco de la diplomacia del cubrebocas en América Latina

States seek to influence how they are perceived abroad in order to achieve a series of political and diplomatic goals. Facing a serious crisis on its international image derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government adopted a multi-pronged, multi-level strategy to counter negative claims and project an image of responsible power. This document reveals certain patterns related to public opinion on China before and during the pandemic, as well as concerning the “mask diplomacy” in Latin America. It concludes that strategic partnerships of political and economic character, and the “One China Policy,” are the most salient factors predicting the assistance in terms of origin, amount and destination. Nonetheless, the mask diplomacy also displays an improvised approach attending to other aims such as the transmission of values and to obtain external legitimacy at the local level. The latter mainly concerning Chinese subnational actors’ engagement with non-state local actors in the region