– Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: Taking advantage of political turmoil and impending general elections in April in Nepal, China is trying to pressurize the Himalayan country to buy COVID-19 vaccine from Beijing, leaked documents have disclosed.
The Nepal government has not given permission for the use of Chinese vaccines yet.
According to media reports from Nepal on Sunday, Beijing pressurized Kathmandu to purchase the coronavirus vaccine Sinovac without its efficiency and efficacy is established.
“If the Nepali side could not collect this batch of the vaccine as soon as possible, it will be redistributed by other commercial orders and the manufacturing of the vaccines for Nepal will have to be put on a much later list,” Beijing told Kathmandu, adding “’The relevant documents including the legal disclaimer may be provided simultaneously or later.”
“Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a telephone conversation with his Nepali counterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali on Friday and put pressure on Nepal to accept the vaccines first under the condition that the details about the vaccines will be sent afterward,” the Nepali media reported, quoting a letter the Nepal government purportedly received from the Chinese Embassy.
China’s pressure tactic came to light when correspondence between the Nepalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu leaked in the media outlets.
Apparently, China fears that Nepal might buy the vaccines in bulk from India, leaving Sinovac out in the cold, which might cause a huge financial loss.
A BBC report on January 13, 2021, said that Brazil had found Sinovac only 50.4 percent effective in clinical trials conducted there, a reason why Nepal did not apparently want to buy it.
Sinovac is the second Chinese COVID-19 vaccine approved for public use in China, after an earlier one developed by a Beijing institute affiliated with the state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) was approved in December 2020.
The Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu is yet to confirm the validity of the letter, but Nepali officials confirmed that it was “genuine”.
Nepali had sent a letter to the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu that said the company supplying the vaccine had not provided the required documents.
