New Delhi: India has decided to stop the export of medical equipment, as a precautionary measure to stop the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic. The Indian decision coming at a time, when China desperately needs the supplies, is claimed to be very significant. Spokesman of the Chinese embassy made a very suggestive statement regarding this and appealed to India to take an unbiased decision. But the media claimed that this decision is the Indian retaliation against China avoiding to allow the Indian aircraft to land in China to evacuate the Indian citizens.
India had made preparations to bring back all the Indian s stranded in the Wuhan city of China, by sending a heavy military transport aircraft, ‘C-17’. But China did not allow this. Other countries were given this permission and their citizens have returned to the homeland. But China has avoided giving such permission to India and this Chinese stand appears suspicious. India has registered its displeasure over this and the foreign ministry is consistently publishing news regarding this. The reports of stoppage of medical equipment exports have been received against this background.
The Indian decision, at a time when China desperately needs medical supplies, becomes very significant. The Indian foreign ministry has said ‘India is a country of 1.3 billion people. Therefore, to contain the spread of the epidemic, we need these supplies on a large scale. Therefore, this decision to stop the exports has been taken and the decision is within the framework of the World Health Organisation rules.’ Ravish Kumar, spokesman of the Indian foreign ministry revealed this information during a press conference.
Ravish Kumar expressed an expectation during the press conference ‘Soon an aircraft full of medical supplies will be sent to China and this will be a goodwill gift from the Indian people to China. But we request the Chinese agencies to send the Indians stranded in their country back in the same aircraft. The Chinese agencies will definitely reply to this.’ In other words, India is demanding the release of Indian citizens in exchange for medical supplies.
Meanwhile, Ji Rong, spokesman of the Chinese embassy in India, expressed hope that India will take an unbiased and practical decision on the crisis created by the Coronavirus. His statement suggests that China expects cooperation from India in this matter. But China is not willing to cooperate with India to evacuate its citizens from the Wuhan city. China has demonstrated this by denying permission for the Indian C-17 to land in China for evacuation.
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