With a crisis-gripped India failing to provide its committed vaccines to neighbors in South Asia, the region seems to be turning towards China for broader pandemic response support. China, taking the lead to regaining the space it also wanted to carve in this region, on Tuesday organized the maiden meeting of the initiative called "China-South Asia Platform for COVID-19 Consultation, Cooperation, and Post-pandemic Economic Recovery", involving five South Asian countries.

The initiative saw participation from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. However, Bhutan and the Maldives gave it a miss. 

After the foreign minister-level meeting, AK Abdul Momin, the foreign minister of Bangladesh, said, “They said they would work with us. China proposed establishing COVID-19 emergency medical facility, poverty alleviation, and e-commerce in rural areas, he was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

Bangladesh, which had earlier signed a contract with India’s SII for 30 million doses of Covishield vaccines, failed to get delivery of vaccines on time. The situation is no better for other nations like Sri Lanka and Nepal.

During the discussion, Dhaka has proposed to set it up close to the sea so that the member countries can get it at the quickest possible time during an emergency.

China wants to set up a Poverty Alleviation Centre and share their experiences of poverty reduction with South Asia as millions of people may be pushed on the fringe due to the pandemic, the report added

At the vritual meeting, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena also reiterated that taking appropriate measures to maintain a steady and equitable flow of critical medical equipment, medicine, and vaccines to nations in need, under the guidance of the UN and WHO was essential to contain the epidemic and avoid relapses.

Interestingly, Sri Lanka, which got 600,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, is yet to grant the vaccine emergency use approval. Bangladesh, which had earlier rejected the field trial of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, is now looking for the same vaccines. Other countries in the region are also looking towards China.

In the meeting, members expressed the view that effective response should have at its core, a process to address issues on the supply of emergency needs during natural and other disasters, the use of technology, and other tools and platforms for poverty alleviation in the rural economies.

Members also expressed solidarity and sympathy with India which has presently been grappling with the second wave of the COVID-19 on a scale unparalleled anywhere in the world since the pandemic last year. 

But it was clear with India too caught up with its own crisis management, China was trying to slip into India's space as the region's benefactor and do-gooder.