NEW DELHI – India has started donating millions of doses of vaccine to its South Asian neighbors and is using its position as a hub for vaccine production to strengthen its ties in a region where China is increasingly influential.
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. The government also plans to give 1.5 million doses to Myanmar and 50,000 doses to the Seychelles, government officials said, starting commercial export of the two vaccines that have been granted emergency authorization and are already being manufactured in India.
As part of its efforts to weigh China’s rising profile in Asia and elsewhere, India is seeking to strengthen its ties with South Asia, Africa and Latin America by positioning itself as a vaccine supplier, said Sreeram Chaulia, dean of OP, said Jindal Global University’s School of International Affairs in Sonipat, India.
“India intends to leverage its strengths for soft power enhancement through its Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy, especially in poorer countries,” he said. “There is a strategy to strengthen the health care systems of the immediate vicinity of India, first from Chinese invasion, and then to the rest of the world.”
India was defensive in much of South Asia, as China issued large loans and used its expertise in infrastructure construction to strengthen ties in places traditionally within India’s sphere of influence, including Sri Lanka and Nepal, as well as with its biggest competitor in the region, Pakistan.