Distinguished Professor Ali Riaz has published a book chapter on “vaccine diplomacy” in South Asia during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, highlighting the roles of China and India in Bangladesh.
The chapter, titled “Bangladesh in the midst of vaccine diplomacy,” discusses how China and India tried to use the Covid vaccine as a tool to influence Bangladesh’s foreign policy tilt. Riaz examines how the contestation between these two countries played out and locates the rivalry within the larger context of the geopolitics of the relationship between Bangladesh, India, and China.
As the vaccine was being produced by China and India, then later as the production site of AstraZeneca developed by Oxford University, these two countries offered vaccines on a priority basis. Bangladesh’s government, due to its close relationship with and at the request of India, declined the Chinese offer. But, as India faced the pandemic at a catastrophic proportion in April 2021, it failed to deliver the vaccines, which opened the door for China. The conspicuous absence of the United State for the past decade in the region, particularly in the Bangladeshi scene, enabled China to make headway. The chapter explores the future trajectories of the relationships between these countries and the implications for regional geopolitics. The book, titled The Covid-19 Crisis in South Asia: Coping with the Pandemic, is edited by Sumit Ganguly and Dinsha Mistree and published by Routledge.
