The US is to donate 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan, a delegation of three US senators said in Taipei yesterday.
The delegation made the announcement during a brief stopover in Taiwan.
The White House on Thursday announced that it aims to donate at least 80 million doses globally by the end of this month. The donation would be part of the first tranche of 25 million doses.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“It was critical to the United States that Taiwan be included in the first group to receive vaccines, because we recognize your urgent need and we value this partnership,” US Senator Tammy Duckworth said in a brief address at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), without mentioning the brand of the vaccines or when they were expected to arrive.
Duckworth was joined by US senators Dan Sullivan and Chris Coons in the three-hour visit, before departing back to South Korea at 10:30am. The Taipei visit was part of a larger tour of the Indo-Pacific region by the three senators.
The decision to make the donation followed consultations between the three lawmakers and White House staff, Duckworth said.
Photo: AP
“In the early days of the pandemic, Taiwan came to our aid with supplies of PPE [personal protective equipment] and other donations that helped save American lives,” she said. “On behalf of the American people, we want to thank you for that.”
Duckworth also shared her personal reasons for wanting to visit, saying that her mother’s family was among those who fled China’s Guangdong Province on foot to escape communist rule, and her father’s family has served in the US military stretching back to the American Revolutionary War.
“My family and I know the price of freedom, and I’m here to tell you that the United States will not let you stand alone,” she said. “We will be by your side to make sure that the people of Taiwan have what they need to get to the other side of this pandemic and beyond.”
Photo: CNA
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with the delegation at the air force’s Songshan Command, where she thanked the senators and the White House for including Taiwan in the US’ first tranche of donations.
The vaccines are coming at a timely moment for Taiwan and once again demonstrate the “rock-solid” friendship between Taiwan and the US, she said.
The bipartisan group of senators has long shown staunch support for Taiwan.
Duckworth and Sullivan are members of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services and have repeatedly voted in favor of Taiwan, while Coons was a cosponsor of the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act, and the Taiwan Assurance Act.
Coons is also a close friend of US President Joe Biden, making him the second of the president’s closest confidants to visit Taiwan in the past few months, following a visit by former US senator Chris Dodd in April.
The US plans to distribute three-quarters of the 80 million doses through the COVAX global vaccine sharing scheme, while the remaining one-quarter would be allocated to dealing with virus surges around the world, the White House said.
Additional reporting by Yang Chun-hui
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats