India?s Vaccine Maitri Vs China?s Wolf Warrior Diplomacy

By the time you read this article, more than 5 million vaccines made in India would have reached to places as far as Brazil in boxes inscribed with an invocation from Upanishads- Sarve Santu Niramaya-May all be free from diseases.

Contrast this with China’s diplomacy since the March of 2020- Chinese diplomats are on an overdrive peddling fake news and trickeries and attacking all countries that sought accountability for a crisis that has killed more than 2 million people and disrupted billions of lives all over the world. Worse still, even without an iota of remorse for ‘exporting’ Coronavirus, Chinese regime instead trolled leaders and nations who requested an impartial investigation. Going on an offensive, China even conducted the horribly failed Galwan land grab from India in Ladakh; turned Hong Kong from a democracy to a dictatorship overnight; and tried to punish Australia through trade embargoes.

Not just these, under the shadow of global lockdowns, China has tried to do everything to isolate India in its own neighbourhood in an attempt to scuttle India’s rise as a global power. China went so far as to create a wedge between India and one of our oldest friendly neighbour (in fact, part of a family) Nepal. Even earlier, by trying to push most of our neighbours (including Pakistan) into debt traps, China was clearly planning to become the new colonial power in the subcontinent.

Communist China’s foreign policy viewed other nations as inferior to the Middle Kingdom and approached diplomacy as a zero-sum game of giving and take. However, as China’s economic clout grew and power started pouring more and more into the hands of Xi Jinping and his coterie in Beijing, Chinese foreign policy morphed into a bullying tactic. Check this-China has lent over $1.5 trillion to some 150 countries directly and indirectly. Some of the worst indebted countries are in our own neighbourhood. And once China’s traps a nation in debt, it starts hard bargain from that nation to extract raw material or, use that nation against another. Africa is littered with nation’s bruised by China’s debt traps and how China then extracts cheap raw materials to ship back home. Now on top of its wolf warrior diplomacy, China developed vaccines for the virus coming out of Wuhan and plans to monetize it by selling it to other nations. But alas, the effectiveness of the Chinese vaccine is as good as tossing a coin! It seems debt traps have taught people not to fall for the virus traps.

Mind you, all this was playing out even as the great American republic, the United States, showed signs of cracks in its system. The lone superpower of the world is definitely showing signs of ageing and an inability to hold the democratic torch. The latest attack on the American Capitol (their equivalent of a Parliament) is further evidence towards the same. Additionally, the Biden administration, rather than trying to find root causes for the problem, is only engaged in whitewashing the American Republic. Mere banning of Trump and its myriad followers from mainstream social media is no guarantee that they have been silenced forever (If that were true, Hosni Mubarak would still be Egyptian President). And so, the US will take quite some time before either it recoups its place back in the global milieu or, will wither away into smaller nations with different ideologies and compositions. Only time will tell. Therefore, for all practical purposes, global affairs have become multipolar-new alliances and newer partnerships.

No wonder then, the world is looking towards India to become an active leader in guiding global affairs. Indian strategic ideology, if there is any, is much different from the Western Christian democratic values; it certainly could be summed up in Prime Minister’s credo- Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas. Unlike western diplomacy, Indian diplomacy is not based on coercive liberalism. India knows that every nation evolved in very unique circumstances and nurtured by unique leadership and culture. Hence, trying to make all nations as a carbon copy is not just impractical, but also morally wrong. Such a thought assumes that other nations are inferior to one’s own and hence need to be ‘taught’ host values.

Western-led diplomacy in the 20th century and the recent Chinese escapades all hinged on this same mentality. But Indian foreign policy embraces the eternal saying from Chhandogya Upanishad, “Ekam Sat, Vipra Bahudha Vadanti”—the Truth is one, but the wise speak it in different ways. Which is why, Indian diplomacy is based on creating a win-win situation for all stakeholders, unlike Chinese zero-sum games. India believes in empowering nations with tools- physical, digital, mental and spiritual-and letting them decide on the path they want to take. It is in this light that we must see our vaccine diplomacy. As the world moves into the post-COVID-19 world, expect India to play an even bigger role in keeping the world safer from viruses and despots.

P.S. Here it is worth mentioning Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s immense contribution to make India world’s pharma hub and an important player in global medical supply to poorer nations. His push to liberalise the sector and strengthen R&D in pharma is what has made our pharma industry resilient. Add the Atmanirbhar Bharat economic reforms to the industry and India will continue to play a pivotal role in keeping the world ‘Niramaya’ and healthy.

About the author- Srikar was a LAMP Fellow and currently works with a fintech startup based out of Bengaluru. He can be reached out at cvsrikar@protonmail.com