Leaked documents of correspondence between Nepal'sMinistry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu show thatBeijing had put pressure on the Himalayan country to accept its Covid vaccinewithout its efficiency and efficacy being established.
Nepali media on Sunday published stories on the basis of the leaked correspondencewhich show how China made Nepal accept its Sinovac vaccine produced bySinopharm without any further delay.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a telephone conversation with his Nepalicounterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali on Friday and put pressure to accept thevaccines first under the condition that the details about the vaccines will besent afterward; a topsy-turvy way of vaccine procurement.
Necessary documents will be provided later, but take the vaccine immediately,as per the letter the Chinese Embassy sent to the Nepal government, warningthat otherwise the country may need to wait quite long to get the vaccine. TheChinese Embassy in Kathmandu is yet to confirm the validity of the letter butNepali officials confirmed that it was genuine.
With Nepal raising concern about the Chinese vaccine, China told Nepal totransport the Sinopharm vaccines immediately and that the relevant documents,including the legal disclaimer, may be provided simultaneously or later. Earlier,the Nepali side had sent a letter to the Chinese Embassy in Nepal saying thatthe company supplying the vaccine had not provided the required documents.
The Embassy was told that two Chinese companies -- P&G Holdings Pvt Ltd andHospice Enterprises Pvt Ltd -- had sought permission to supply vaccines toNepal and the country wanted clarification as to which company is the officialcompany for importing vaccines. In its reply, the Chinese Embassy said that theNepali side is suggested to transport the Sinopharm vaccines to be donated toNepal under grant assistance immediately.
"The Sinopharm vaccines are currently in high demand and short supply. Inorder to provide the vaccines to Nepal at the earliest and help Nepali people'sfight against the pandemic, the Chinese side has again made arrangements tothis end in coordination with Sinopharm.
"The relevant documents including legal disclaimer may be provided simultaneouslyor later," it said. The letter went on to say: "If the Nepali sidecould not collect this batch of the vaccine as soon as possible, it will beredistributed by other commercial orders and the manufacturing of the vaccinesfor Nepal will have to be put on a much later list."
"The Embassy hopes that relevant Nepali authorities could facilitate theearly approval and registration of Sinopharm vaccine for the emergency use inNepal for the benefit of the Nepali people." On January 31, the ChineseEmbassy in Nepal stated that it would provide 300,000 doses of Sinovac vaccineproduced by its own state-owned company Sinopharm to Nepal.
However, according to Foreign Minister Gyawali's statement on Friday, during atelephone conversation between his Chinese counterpart, China agreed toincrease the quantity to 500,000 doses. There is a provision that the Nepal'sDepartment of Drug Administration should give permission for a vaccine afterstudying whether it is suitable for use.
The Nepal government has not given permission for the use of Chinese vaccinesyet. Nepal had been promised two million Covid vaccines by India and another twomillion vaccines by the UK. The third phase trials of the Sinovac vaccine,developed by Sinopharm, was found only 50.4 percent effective in Brazil.