China blocked Taiwan from receiving the German-made BioNTech vaccine for months. Finally though a deal has been reached for ten million doses to be given to Taiwan for $175 million dollars paid to Chinese-owned Fosun Pharma even though the vaccines will be shipped directly from Germany... where they are made...
Why is this?
Since the delay from January 8th to July 11th, over 14,000 cases of the WuFlu have been confirmed in Taiwan including over 700 deaths. The Chinese press has been gloating about it as well.
Why is this?
Taiwan News said:President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) responded to calls by the opposition Kuomintang party for direct purchases from China by pointing out that Taiwan and Germany's BioNTech were on the verge of signing a contract to purchase the vaccines, but due to interference from China, negotiations had been continuously delayed. Tsai stated that the Central Epidemic Command Center's (CECC) principle when purchasing vaccines is to buy them directly from the manufacturer: "Only by negotiating directly with the original manufacturer can you obtain the original manufacturer's direct guarantee and responsibility for quality and safety so as to avoid legal and political risks."
On May 27 of this year, CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) revealed that negotiations for the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine had continued from Aug. 20 of last year until a mysterious stalemate occurred in January of this year. Chen said that on Jan. 8, four hours after the CECC and BioNTech appeared to be close to signing an agreement, the German firm "strongly recommended" that the CECC remove the words "our country" (我國) from the Chinese version of the press release.
The center changed "our country" to "Taiwan" in the version drafted on Jan. 9. However, on Jan. 15, BioNTech informed the center that there was a "reassessment of vaccine supply" and that the signing would need to be postponed several weeks.
The Liberty Times on June 21 alleged that the impasse had been created by interference from Chinese executive Xu Shanshan (徐姍姍). Xu, a native of China's Heilongjiang Province, is a senior executive at BioNTech's U.S. headquarters and vice president of Asia Pacific and China Development.
The newspaper alleges that Xu is the figure who raised objections over the use of the term "our country" in January. It cited sources from within BioNTech as stating that she had been sent by the company's Chinese partner, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., and alleging that she serves as a "cell" for the Chinese firm to press its agenda from within.
Since the delay from January 8th to July 11th, over 14,000 cases of the WuFlu have been confirmed in Taiwan including over 700 deaths. The Chinese press has been gloating about it as well.
China boasts about providing 'Taiwan region' with COVID-19 vaccine | Taiwan News | 2021-07-12 12:54:00
BioNTech vaccine finally secured 6 months after original deal scuttled, 10 million doses due in October | 2021-07-12 12:54:00
www.taiwannews.com.tw