NEW DELHI – When an Indian Navy aircraft landed in the Seychelles archipelago last month, the country’s foreign minister and other senior officials lined up to receive their precious cargo: 50,000 doses of the India-made AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
Two weeks earlier, the island nation of the Indian Ocean – the total population, 98,000 – received a separate shipment of 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine made in China, which seeks to make strategic inroads into a region long seen by India as part of their sphere of influence.
Covid-19 vaccines are becoming an important form of diplomatic currency worldwide as nations compete for soft power gains. China and Russia are promoting their own vaccines, as are Western pharmaceutical companies.
Now India, a pharmaceutical giant that manufactured about 60% of global vaccines before the pandemic, is entering the fray, seeking to strengthen ties and expand its influence in its neighborhood and beyond.
For years, Beijing tried to hinder Indian efforts to establish a military outpost in Seychelles that would allow New Delhi to maintain control over Chinese and civilian ships in the area. India worked to contain Chinese intrusions and helped build a network of coastal radar stations.