Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) is to represent Taiwan at the second online International COVID-19 Summit in a prerecorded statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
“The United States as first COVID Summit chair, Belize, as CARICOM chair; Germany, holding the G7 presidency; Indonesia, holding the G20 presidency; and Senegal as African Union chair will cohost the second Global COVID-19 Summit, which will be held virtually on Thursday, May 12, 2022,” the White House said in a media summary on Tuesday.
Taiwan’s invitation shows the success of the nation’s disease prevention measures, the ministry said.
Photo: Screen grab from a video clip provided by Ministry of Foreign Affairs
On behalf of the government, Taiwan is to donate US$1.5 million to assist with global vaccine coverage, and the nation would continue to provide countries in need with medical-grade masks, polymerase chain reaction testing equipment, oxygen concentrators and other disease prevention equipment, the ministry said, quoting Chen in the video.
Since April 2020, Taiwan has provided more than US$70 million in medical aid to more than 80 countries, including a donation of 150,000 doses of the Medigen vaccine to Somaliland, Chen says.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that it not only endangers lives, but can also repress democracy and human rights, he says.
The “Taiwan model” has demonstrated to the world that modern democratic countries can maintain transparency and utilize technology to combat the pandemic, Chen says, adding that Taiwan would continue to work with democratic partners on pandemic prevention.
“We will continue to share with the international community our experiences in such matters,” he says.
Taiwan’s participation in international public health aid and humanitarian aid shows that “Taiwan can help, and Taiwan is helping,” the ministry said.
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