US assistance securing more COVID-19 vaccines could serve to protect the critical semiconductor industry at a time of tight chip supplies globally and a rising number of infections in Taiwan, a senior Taiwanese official in New York said in an interview on Thursday.
“While for now the uptick [in COVID-19 cases] hasn’t had an impact, if it lasts too long there could be logistical problems,” Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) Director-General James Lee (李光章) said. “That’s why it’s urgent. We hope the international community can help release vaccines as soon as possible to help control the outbreak.”
Beyond the humanitarian plea for help fighting the pandemic, Lee’s argument might resonate because of deep concern in US government and business about the shortage of chips used in everything from mobile phones to automobiles.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Taiwan is facing hundreds of untraceable infections after a year of being one of the biggest success stories of COVID-19 containment.
The new surge has been confined so far mainly to Taipei and New Taipei City, and has not affected the operations of major technology firms, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), as most of their operations are located farther south.
However, a drought has left hydroelectric plants operating at limited capacity, contributing to power outages in major cities across the nation, including locations where the world’s biggest computer chip businesses operate.
The government earlier this week pledged to try to keep the world supplied with chips and projected a limited impact from its worst outbreak so far. Keeping up production is critical not just for Taiwan’s growth, but because the nation is the world’s main supplier of advanced computer chips.
The concentration of chip manufacturing in Taiwan and a global shortage fueled in part by the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly become a geopolitical issue, with governments around the world racing to secure additional supplies and vowing to build their own locally based chipmaking industries.
Although Taiwan has ranked among the top places in the world in its handling of the pandemic, it has been slower to acquire and distribute shots. So far, only 700,000 doses of AstraZeneca PLC’s COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered to Taiwan.
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) yesterday said that she was trying to ensure that Moderna Inc shots the government has ordered arrive next month.
The government is also in talks with the White House to obtain a portion of the 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines US President Joe Biden pledged to donate.
Biden on Monday announced that his administration would send doses of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, on top of 60 million AstraZeneca doses he had already planned to give to other countries.
“We have talked to the Biden administration and we work closely together,” Lee said. “We expect them to help.”
“The US government has been very supportive of Taiwan and that is under their consideration. We expect that pretty soon the White House will have a decision,” he added.
Additional reporting by Reuters
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese