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The United States will give 750,000 Covid-19 vaccines to Taiwan, demonstrating its support for the country after Taipei accused Beijing of interfering in its efforts to get lava flows.
The announcement by a group of US senators during a special visit to Taipei on Sunday came just days after Japan gave donations of 1.2 m, while Taiwan faces its first large-scale Covid outbreak.
The U.S. contribution to Taiwan represents more than 10% of the 7 million vaccine doses Washington has pledged to give to Asian and Pacific nations.
“It was critical for the United States that Taiwan be included in the first group to receive vaccines so that we recognize your urgent need and value that partnership,” said U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
Duckworth and two other senators arrived in Taipei with a U.S. Air Force transport plane from South Korea, the first U.S. military plane to land in Taiwan from a relief mission after a 1999 earthquake.
Visiting U.S. delegations have avoided using Air Force aircraft since Washington changed Taipei’s diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979. China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and threatens to annex it if Taipei refuses to submit to its control indefinitely, it sees the presence of any U.S. military assets on the island as provocation.
“They used an Air Force plane to highlight that this mission is supported, endorsed or even coordinated with the administration,” a senior Taiwanese government official said. “The U.S. government wants to make sure people understand the importance of the short visit.”
Taiwanese health authorities announced 343 new local transmission cases on Sunday. Taipei largely contained coronavirus last year, but an outbreak that began in May has begun to spread to some factories in the electronics industry, the backbone of the country’s booming export sector.
Taiwan’s opposition has fiercely criticized President Tsai Ing-wen’s government for the lack of vaccines. The government fears that China will try to use the health crisis to undermine social stability and turn the public upside down against Tsai, whom Beijing has accused of “plotting independence with the help of the pandemic.”
China has said it is ready to provide vaccines to Taiwan, but Taipei has accused Beijing of working to block efforts to obtain vaccines directly. China also criticized Japan for its vaccine donation to Taiwan.
Tsai indicated his determination to partner with countries other than China to fight the virus. “I hope that through cooperation with the United States, Japan and other countries, Taiwan can overcome our current challenges and help advance international disease prevention efforts to put us all on the path to recovery. “, he said in a meeting with the US Senators.
Tsai said his message of support for the bipartisan Congress “demonstrates once again the strong friendship between Taiwan and the United States.”
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