NEW DELHI – India has begun to donate millions of doses of vaccines to its South Asian neighbors, using its position as a center for vaccine manufacturing to strengthen its ties in a region where China is increasingly exercising influence.
India announced this week that it is giving one million doses of vaccine to Nepal, 2 million to Bangladesh, 100,000 to the Maldives and 150,000 to Bhutan. It also plans to deliver 1.5 million doses to Myanmar and 50,000 doses to the Seychelles as early as Friday, government officials said, and begins commercial export of the two vaccines that have received an emergency permit and are already being widely used. produced in India.
As part of its efforts to counterbalance China’s rising profile in Asia and elsewhere, India is seeking to strengthen its ties with South Asia, Africa and Latin America by establishing itself as the go-to supplier for vaccines, said Sreeram Chaulia, dean at OP School of International Affairs at Jindal Global University in Sonipat, India.
“Through its Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy, India wants to use its strengths for the enhancement of soft power, especially in poorer countries,” he said. “There is a strategy to strengthen health systems in the immediate vicinity of India, first through Chinese intervention and then to extend to the rest of the world.”
India has gone on the defensive in much of South Asia as China has provided massive loans and used its infrastructure building expertise to strengthen ties in places traditionally within India’s sphere of influence, including Sri Lanka and Nepal, as well as its biggest rival in India. the region, Pakistan.