India hasn’t responded to the offers officially, but some help from China has been flowing in.
India hasn’t responded to the offers officially, but some help from China has been flowing in.
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistan and China — India’s neighbors and two of its longstanding rivals — have extended a helping hand to the South Asian nation as it continues to tackle the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. India is yet to respond.
This comes even as a U.S.-based think tank has projected a full-blown war between India and Pakistan in the next five years. “India and Pakistan may stumble into a large-scale war neither side wants,” states the report, titled “Global Trends 2040”, published by the U.S. National Intelligence Council in April.
“I want to express our solidarity with the people of India as they battle a dangerous wave of Covid-19,” tweeted Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“Our prayers for a speedy recovery go to all those suffering from the pandemic in our neighborhood and the world. We must fight this global challenge confronting humanity together.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Office released a statement saying Islamabad was ready to offer medical relief support.
“As a gesture of solidarity with the people of India, Pakistan has offered to provide relief support to India including ventilators, Bi-PAP, digital X-ray machines, PPEs [personal protective equipment], and related items,” notes the statement. It said the authorities concerned could work out modalities “for quick delivery of the relief items”.
China, with which India has an ongoing disengagement of troops at the mountainous region of Ladakh following a clash last summer, also pledged its support.
“The Chinese government and people firmly support the Indian government and people in fighting the coronavirus,” Zhao Lijian, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement.
“China is ready to provide support and help according to India’s needs and is in communication with the Indian side on this.”
While India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has elaborated the importance of China’s transport corridors and cargo flights remaining open to facilitate the movement of materials for India’s Covid-19 response to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, India has not officially responded to China’s offer to help.
India is going through one of the worst coronavirus situations globally. The country has been reporting over 350,000 daily cases for the past week, with cases topping 400,000 on April 30.
India’s hospital system is on the verge of collapse, with shortages of oxygen, intensive care beds, and other medical support.
Analysts divided over India’s response
Some analysts believe the move is symbolic of an attempt to repair the strained relations between the two neighbors.
“I believe people should see Pakistan’s offer to send medical hardware to India in the context of the slow improvement in the bilateral relations atmospherics,” Claude Rakisits, a professor of international relations at the Australian National University, Canberra, told Zenger News.
“Imran Khan is doing this not only because I believe he genuinely cares about trying to save Indian lives, but also to send a message to [Indian] Prime Minister Narendra Modi that this medical emergency is an opportunity for the two countries to reset the relationship on a more productive footing.”
“The offer reaffirms Islamabad’s desire to set the ball rolling on improved understanding with India beyond closed-door politics, respecting people-to-people aspirations amidst Covid-19,” Zaki Khalid, an independent strategic affairs analyst based out of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, told Zenger News.
However, some analysts opine India is not likely to accept any material support from Pakistan as Modi’s support base will not accept it.
“India would not accept Pakistan’s offer because it is politically not good for the Modi government that sees itself as much more superior to, and formidable than, Pakistan,” Syed Ali Zia Jaffery, a research fellow at the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore, told Zenger News.
“Modi wants not to be seen as a weak leader, one that while not being able to manage this crisis, is relying on its principal foe, Pakistan.”
Rakisits also believes it will be “challenging” for Modi to accept help from Khan.
Analysts have similar views about India’s assessment of China’s offer.
“Most of the world, including India, holds China responsible for the pandemic,” Joy Mitra, a non-resident fellow at the EastWest Institute in Washington D.C., told Zenger News.
“Beijing is virtually sitting on the Indian territory [in the northern Sikkim border region], making it very difficult for Modi to accept Beijing’s offer.”
“India and China have been engaged in a vaccine diplomacy competition as both countries have shipped their homemade vaccine globally,” Mitra said. “It would be bad optics for Modi to accept China’s offer in such a case.”
China helps on U.S. delay
Though not officially, but India seems to have initiated cooperation with China in some capacity.
“Chinese medical suppliers are working overtime on orders from India,” China’s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong tweeted on April 28, indicating many organizations are using private channels to extend help to India.
“At least 25,000 orders for oxygen concentrators in recent days. Cargo planes are under the plan for medical supplies. Chinese customs will facilitate relevant processes.”
“800 oxygen concentrators have been airlifted from Hong Kong to New Delhi; 1,000 more in a week. China is keeping in touch with India for urgent needs,” China’s embassy in Sri Lanka tweeted.
The U.S. recently invoked the Defense Production Act to boost local vaccine production and limit the export of raw materials to other countries. The U.S. State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, has said Washington had a “special responsibility to the American people” when asked if President Joseph R. Biden will lift the ban on the export of vaccine raw materials to help India.
But Biden has now pledged emergency assistance to India in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Modi. A White House statement released on April 26 following the telephone conversation stated that the U.S. “is [now] providing a range of emergency assistance, including oxygen-related supplies, vaccine materials, and therapeutics”.
So far, more than 20 countries, including the U.K., Australia, Singapore, France, Germany, Israel, Russia, UAE, have offered to help India in different capacities.
“At this point, many nations, including the U.S., are getting ready to send material support to India, and the domestic capacity and logistics are also being supplemented,” Mitra said. “So, I don’t think India would directly take China’s offer right now unless other sources do not address the gap between demand and supply.”
(Edited by Amrita Das and Gaurab Dasgupta)
