NEW DELHI – When an Indian Navy plane landed in the Seychelles archipelago last month, the country’s secretary of state and other senior officials stood on the tarmac to welcome the precious cargo: 50,000 doses of the Indian-made AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
Two weeks earlier, the Indian Ocean island nation – total population 98,000 – received a separate shipment of 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine, manufactured in China, that is attempting to make strategic progress in a region that has long been part of its territory by India. is considered of influence.
Covid-19 vaccines are becoming a major form of diplomatic currency around the world as nations jockey for gains from soft power. China and Russia promote their own vaccines, as do Western pharmaceutical companies.
Now India, a pharmaceutical giant that produced about 60% of the world’s vaccines before the pandemic, is joining the fight, seeking to strengthen ties and expand its influence in its environment and beyond.
Beijing has spent years trying to derail Indian efforts to establish a military outpost in the Seychelles, allowing New Delhi to keep an eye on Chinese naval and civilian ships in the area. India has made efforts to slow down Chinese invaders and helped build a network of coastal radar stations.