Taiwan has not yet reached a point where it can export masks to diplomatic allies amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, dismissing as misinformation online reports that it gave away masks to curry favor with a diplomatic ally.
“Taiwan provides med-ical aid to diplomatic allies based upon specific circumstances,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said, adding that the supplements donated by Taiwan were all purchased locally in allied countries, in accordance with their needs.
“The time is not yet ripe” for Taiwan to export medical supplies, such as surgical masks, to diplomatic allies, until it is able to satisfy domestic demand, Wu said.
He was answering questions from reporters about reports that the ministry contravened the export ban by donating 100,000 masks to Paraguay, despite a domestic shortage.
The ministry on Saturday issued a statement rebutting the accusation, saying it had informed the authorities about the circulating misinformation.
Wu yesterday told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee that the masks Taiwan provided to Paraguay were purchased in other Latin American countries at US$0.4 each and were not made in Taiwan.
However, restricted by the limited output of manufacturers in that region, Taiwan was able to give only 100,000 — instead of 1 million — masks to help the pandemic-hit ally, he said.
Wu added that Taiwan is facing a serious diplomatic challenge from China, which had contacted Paraguay and offered to donate masks.
Because of China’s suppression and poaching of allies, Taiwan has only 15 diplomatic allies, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Taiwan imposed a provisional ban on mask exports in late January after it reported the first confirmed case of novel coronavirus infection.
The ban, which was to last until Feb. 23, has been extended to April 30. The government has also requisitioned masks nationwide.
Lawmakers also asked Wu about Taiwan’s mask agreement with the US in their joint efforts to combat COVID-19.
Under the joint statement signed on March 18 by Wu and American Institute in Taiwan Director Brent Christensen, the US promised to reserve raw materials for 300,000 medical protective suits for Taiwan, while Taiwan agreed to provide 100,000 masks per week to the US when its production capacity has stabilized.
Wu confirmed that it is a formal “government-to-government” statement, although there are no formal diplomatic ties between the two nations.
As for when Taiwan would begin to supply the US with 100,000 masks per week, Wu said the two sides are still discussing the details.
Besides, the US has not yet decided when it would begin shipments of raw materials for 300,000 medical protective suits for Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) said.
Taiwan needs 1 million medical protective suits and there are only two companies in the world — one in Japan and the other in the US — that produce key materials for the product, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said.
Although a Taiwanese company produces medical-grade cloth for protective suits, its output can only satisfy 10 percent of domestic demand, Wang said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS