China has stressed that it does not attach any political strings or economic calculations to carrying out vaccine cooperation with Bangladesh and other countries. “The only purpose of China is to make vaccines a global public good that truly serves people’s interests and help the world defeat the pandemic at an early date. To this end, China will take further actions,” said Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Li Jiming on Monday. While speaking at a signing ceremony of the local production of Sinopharm vaccines in Bangladesh, he said at least three deficits -- distribution deficit, production deficit and cooperation deficit -- need to be addressed. The Ambassador thanked Bangladesh for respecting science, multilateralism and justice, and said he is sure that their anti-pandemic cooperation will only become stronger and more fruitful, leading to further contribution to the global fight against Covid-19.

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines would be supplied to the world through this year, increasing China’s commitment as the largest exporter of the shots. Xi’s announcement was delivered at the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation, state media reported Wednesday, which China hosted virtually. That figure likely includes the 770 million doses China has already donated or exported already since September last year, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most of the Chinese shots have been exported under bilateral deals. It is unclear if the figure also includes the agreements with the COVAX mechanism where two Chinese vaccine manufacturers will provide up to 550 million doses. Xi also promised to donate $100 million to the UN-backed COVAX program, which aims to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday night. Also read: China to continue providing vaccine aid to Bangladesh: Wang Yi Vaccine distributions have been starkly unequal, as wealthy countries now consider issuing booster shots to their citizens and poorer nations struggle to get enough vaccines for a first dose. “Over 4 billion vaccines have been administered globally, but more than 75% of those have gone to just 10 countries,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director General, at the vaccine forum. Hundreds of millions of Chinese shots, the vast majority of which are from Sinopharm and Sinovac, have already been administered to people in many countries across the world, as many were desperate for access to any vaccine. However the vaccines have been followed with questions and concerns, especially as the highly transmissible delta variant spread and caused the number of COVID-19 deaths to climb again. In Indonesia, which has relied heavily on Sinovac’s shot, the government said it was planning boosters for health workers, using some of the newly delivered Moderna doses, after reports that some of the health workers who had died since June had been fully vaccinated with the Chinese shot. Access to vaccines have not only been plagued by inequality, but also been dominated by geopolitics. Also read: Bangladesh going to receive large Covid vaccine shipment from China soon China has been accused of using vaccines as leverage in diplomatic dealings. In June, diplomats told The Associated Press that China threatened to withhold vaccines to pressure Ukraine into withdrawing from a statement calling for more scrutiny about how China was treating ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang region. President Joe Biden had made a point to say vaccine donations would come without “pressure for favors or potential concessions” when announcing U.S. donation plans in June. The White House said Tuesday the U.S. had donated 110 million doses, most of which was through COVAX coordinated by Gavi, a vaccine alliance. Japan has also stepped up its donations in the region, pledging 30 million doses of vaccine through COVAX and other channels. It has already donated several million vaccines through bilateral deals. Taiwan was one such beneficiary of Japan’s aid, after the island faced an outbreak which stressed its health system in May and June. Taiwan had accused China, which claims the self-governing island as its own territory, of interfering in deals to buy the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

China has proposed setting up an international forum on vaccine cooperation for vaccine-developing and producing countries, companies and other stakeholders to explore ways of promoting fair and equitable distribution of vaccines around the world. Chinese President Xi Jinping made the proposal at the Global Health Summit on Friday. He said China will provide an additional US$3 billion in international aid over the next three years to support COVID-19 response and economic and social recovery in other developing countries. Also read: Covid vaccine: China to send additional 6 lakh doses as gift Having already supplied 300 million doses of vaccines to the world, President Xi said, China will provide still more doses to the best of its ability. He mentioned that China supports its vaccine companies in transferring technologies to other developing countries and carrying out joint production with them. Having announced support for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, China also supports the World Trade Organization and other international institutions in making an early decision on this matter, President Xi said.

Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming on Wednesday met Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and explained his recent remarks made during a progamme of Diplomatic Correspondents Association Bangladesh (DCAB). The meeting was held at the state guesthouse Padma after the vaccine handover ceremony. They discussed different bilateral issues including Covid cooperation between the two countries, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNB. They highlighted the importance of the growing relationship between the two countries. On Monday, the Ambassador attended a programme hosted by DCAB and talked about a number of issues including vaccine cooperation. The envoy, while responding to a question, also talked about Quad, an initiative of four countries- the United States, Japan, India and Australia, that followed by a reaction by Dhaka.

China has said it will continue its vaccine cooperation with relevant countries including Bangladesh, offering support within its capability.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami has said they want to move “very quickly” on water sharing of six common rivers during the celebratory year of 2021 showing that the spirit of partnership and sharing between the two countries remains very strong.