even as many nations around the world
struggle with covet vaccine shortages
india is distributing millions of doses
in its neighborhood
and further afield most have been given
away free
some commercially the policy is in line
with prime minister narendra modi's
assurance
to make affordable vaccines available to
the world
but there are definite hints of indian
soft power at play
especially at a time that china too is
ramping up its own
so-called vaccine diplomacy
this is the first consignment of covert
19 vaccine to arrive in afghanistan
it includes half a million doses and was
donated by the government of india
the international press and a host of
vips have been assembled to witness the
event
so what's behind such generosity an
embassy spokesperson offers one
explanation
india is very happy that you know we
have a long tradition of history and
cooperation
in good times and bad india and
afghanistan have stayed together
and we call it as a vaccine my three
which is you know
friendship through vaccination
friendship
through vaccination while other
countries are accused of hoarding
vaccines
or failing to secure enough for their
citizens
india has already given away more than 5
million doses
and may donate as many as 20 million to
neighboring nations in the near future
among the beneficiaries are myanmar
bangladesh
sri lanka bhutan and nepal
we have been successful in bringing the
vaccines to nepal
for this i would like to thank the
indian government prime minister
narendra modi and the people of india on
behalf of nepal's government
prime minister k.p sharma ali and the
people of nepal
india is one of the world's largest
vaccine producers
already meeting more than 60 per cent of
global demand
one of its champions is the privately
owned serum institute of india
when covert 19 hit they teamed up with
british swedish firm
astrazeneca together they quickly
produced and stockpiled more than 70
million doses
which put india in a position to be able
to help other countries with their
inoculation drives
for india this is a source of national
pride
it's also seen as a way of improving
ties in the region
and some say leveraging any goodwill
that might be generated
others suggest delhi is hoping to
counter chinese influence as beijing
conducts its own vaccine diplomacy
delivering doses of its jab to countries
in india's backyard
joining me now is anand krishnan he's
china correspondent for the hindu
newspaper
and author of the book india's china
challenge he joins me now from chennai
anant welcome
now india calls it vaccine matri or
vaccine friendship
but is it primarily a way to counter
chinese influence
in what india has always seen as its
area of influence
well baris i don't uh really think so
because if you look at
the spread of where india has been
sending its vaccines it's of course
focused in the immediate neighborhood
bangladesh
myanmar and nepal have received more
doses from india than any other country
but india is also supplying vaccines to
egypt south africa
brazil now countries in the caribbean i
think it's more a question of india
happening to be one of the places in the
world that has the biggest capacity
for making vaccines and right now birsh
the it's more a question of demand and
supply
where india is going to be producing way
more than it needs
uh just so far uh india has vaccinated
about eight million people
and it has sent about 16 million doses
of vaccines abroad
of which about uh one-third were grants
in the rest on a commercial basis
so i think relation is more a demand
supply issue rather than a vaccine
competition and
as someone in nepal recently told me if
india and china are going head over
heels to supply vaccines it's a good
thing for the world
but is there an element of software here
that india is hoping to project
for sure i'm sure that is an added
element i don't think it would be the
case where
diplomacy or geopolitics is driving this
effort i think as i said it's more a
question of india having the capacity to
do so
but of course i think for india for
china for every other country there is
an added element
as you can see india's external affairs
minister has been tweeting almost every
dispatch
uh the indian envoys and the indian
missions and the countries that
receiving them have been quite active on
social media showcasing it
so of course as you said i think it's a
wonderful opportunity to showcase soft
power for india for china for any other
country
but my own sense is the idea of vaccine
competition between india and china is
something i think
perhaps being played up too much in the
media i think china itself has two
vaccines that it's producing
in large quantities as you know they've
controlled
the coronavirus spread in china so they
do have the capacity to export them
overseas as well so i think it is a good
thing for the world that india
and china are emerging as big suppliers
of vaccines
india especially being one of the
world's biggest manufacturers it's no
doubt a good thing for the world
and if there is some element of soft
power competition i think bereis so be
it
well let's just for try and focus on the
soft part i'm thinking particularly of
india's ties in the immediate
neighborhood
with countries such as bangladesh and
nepal which have generally been fraught
in the recent past do you think that
accidentally if i can put it that way
they might see a slight improvement
i think it is interesting where it seems
that india's relations with the
immediate neighborhood seems to be
cyclical
where they go through periods of crisis
and then they kind of patch up and i
think that happens a lot especially with
nepal and sri lanka
you've seen them gravitate towards china
and then you've had changes in
government they
gravitate back towards india my feeling
is i think there is some
amount of realism in delhi especially if
you have smaller countries in your
immediate neighborhood it's in their
interest
to try and play india off of china to
get the best deal i don't think that
dynamic is going to change
and i would expect that push pull to
continue in the immediate neighborhood
for some time to come
i think uh bresh we should keep in mind
that there's a spectrum
in if you look at india's immediate
neighborhood i think that ranges
from bhutan on the one end which has
extremely close relations with india no
ties with china
to obviously pakistan at the other end i
think in between it's a lot of
grey area i think if you look at
bangladesh nepal sri lanka the maldives
they seem to be moving to china and then
away from china and i think that
kind of dynamic is here to stay and i
think you're seeing that reflected a
little bit in the vaccines as well
it's quite interesting that china has
been quite slow to be able to send its
vaccines for whatever reason
two countries in south asia barring
pakistan china has very belatedly
announced a half a million
deal to supply vaccines to nepal and
there was some controversy in nepal
apparently leaking documents saying with
the chinese embassy there was pressuring
nepal to accept to
kind of take up chinese vaccines the
chinese media has accused india of
blocking
chinese trials in bangladesh although
later it emerged was more about
the chinese company changing the terms
of the deal so as you said british i
think it is playing out a little bit
but perhaps a little bit too much being
made of it
in my opinion anand krishnan thanks very
much for sharing that opinion
you