Vaccine Diplomacy: Is India Ignoring Risks At Home For Rewards Abroad?
DKODING Studio
India’s Vaccine Diplomacy aims to beat China to the chase, delivering millions of free Covid-19 Vaccine doses to neighbours and developing nations of the world; in an attempt to bolster its Soft Power.
On January 21, five days after beginning its Coronavirus vaccinations, India delivered its first doses to neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal under grant assistance. Soon, consignments of Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccines (marketed as Covishield vaccines in India) were dispatched to Bhutan, Maldives, including Myanmar, Seychelles, and Mauritius, with commercial agreements in the pipeline. In February, the list of beneficiaries from India’s vaccine diplomacy added countries like Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
When the United Kingdom (UK) releases the highly anticipated integrated review of its foreign, defence, security and development policy in March, it will mark the first formal iteration of the UK’s Indo-Pacific strategy. This brief explores the dynamics that are driving the UK’s tilt to the Indo-Pacific. It identifies three key drivers that are prompting the shift: a reappraisal of China, the economic fallout of Brexit, and the UK’s close ties with the US. It explores the emerging trends in this churn across security, trade, development, and diplomatic domains and highlights the opportunities they afford the India-UK relationship.
India has emerged as an angel for the world that has been battling the Covid-19 epidemic for more than a year. India has not only succeeded in overcoming this epidemic but it is playing an effective role in bringing the world out of it. India is playing this role in two ways. Its first means […]