NEW DELHI: When an Indian Navy plane landed in the Seychelles archipelago nation last month, the country’s foreign minister and other senior officials lined up on the tarmac to give the Welcome to your precious cargo: 50,000 doses of Indian-made AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
Two weeks earlier, the Indian Ocean island nation (98,000 inhabitants) received an independent shipment of 50,000 doses of China-made Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine, which seeks to make strategic forays into a region long seen by India as part of its sphere. of influence.
Covid-19 vaccines are becoming an important form of diplomatic currency around the world as nations gamble to gain soft power gains. China and Russia promote their own vaccines, as do Western pharmaceuticals.
Now India, a pharmaceutical giant that manufactured about 60% of the world’s vaccines before the pandemic, is joining the fight, seeking to strengthen ties and expand its influence in its neighborhood and beyond.
For years, Beijing has tried to derail Indian efforts to establish a military post in the Seychelles that would allow New Delhi to control Chinese naval and civilian vessels in the area. India has worked to eliminate Chinese intrusions and has helped build a network of coastal radar stations.