China-South Asia grouping "EMPOWER IAS"

Context: 

• Bangladesh said that India can join the China-led South Asian initiative for COVID-19 vaccines and poverty alleviation too if it so desires
• It denied that a six-nation grouping launched earlier this month was meant to exclude India. 
• India’s stand: However, given continuing tensions over Chinese PLA aggression at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, New Delhi’s firm stand is that other bilateral relations cannot move ahead without a resolution of the boundary stand-off.

 

China-South Asian Initiative:

• The China-South Asian Countries Emergency Supplies Reserve, and a Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative Development Centre  was set up in China on July 8.
• Its members are  China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• It appeared to leave out only India, Bhutan and the Maldives.
• Objectives: It aims for setting up a poverty alleviation centre to deal with economic issues arising in South Asia due to COVID, an e-commerce economic cooperation forum and an emergency storage facility for vaccines.

 

Concerns:

• •  
• The absence of India from the grouping as well as from a series of consultations on COVID relief between the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister and different combinations of all SAARC member countries (other than India and Bhutan) led some experts to suggest this was meant to be a “Minus India” initiative. 
• Diluting India’s role in the SAARC region: It is understood that India would be unlikely to consider a new grouping involving China, especially one that could be seen to dilute its role in the SAARC region.
• India’s decision to suspend vaccine exports, including to Bangladesh, had become a “big issue” in the country.After Bangladesh requested vaccines from China, China decided to convene the six-nation China-South Asia meeting.
• India is the only country of all eight SAARC nations that has not requested or accepted Chinese COVID vaccines.
• Chinese vaccine diplomacy: The promise of the Quad countries “to expand and accelerate production of vaccines in India” for the Indo-Pacific remains unfulfilled. 
• India’s neighbours have thus been compelled to find alternative sources for their vaccine requirements.

 

India’s vaccine initiatives for South Asia

• •  
• Vaccine Maitri: In early 2021, India—driven by its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and in its understanding of its role as the ‘net security provider’ of the region began providing COVID-19 vaccines on a priority basis to its immediate neighbours.
• Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI): In a move to counter China’s dominance of supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region, India, Japan and Australia launched the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI).
• It aims to create a virtuous cycle of enhancing supply chain resilience with a view to eventually attaining strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth in the Indo-Pacific region.

 

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

• The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
• The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first raised in November 1980. After consultations, the foreign secretaries of the seven founding countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—met for the first time in Colombo in April 1981.
• Afghanistan became the newest member of SAARC at the 13th annual summit in 2005.
• The Headquarters and Secretariat of the Association are