Beijing has been encouraging Taiwanese organizations to purchase Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines through Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group to give the impression that all vaccines received by Taiwanese after this summer came from China, industry sources said yesterday.
Chinese officials are urging groups to follow the example of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, which are looking to purchase millions of doses through a subsidiary of the Chinese company, they said.
Shanghai Fosun has a contract with Germany’s BioNTech to sell the vaccine in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Photo: CNA
The Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce reportedly scheduled a meeting with the Ministry of Health and Welfare on June 21 to discuss purchasing 2.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for companies “following the Hon Hai model,” an insider said.
Although the meeting was canceled, the trade group in preliminary discussions hinted at the possibility of eliminating the government’s role in negotiations, including replacing original manufacturer authorization with documentation from a commercial agent, they said.
However, a source with knowledge of the process said that the proposal shows an obvious misunderstanding of the legal process behind vaccine procurement.
Because the association did not plan to donate the vaccines to the government, its application had been put on hold, they added.
When the association first proposed purchasing vaccines, it did so out of concern that a vaccine shortage would affect the industry, but did not indicate how or from whom it would purchase them, an official with knowledge of the matter said.
Association representatives in a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also expressed a general understanding of the complexity of international vaccine procurement and the need for government intervention, they added.
However, an industry source said that a key figure in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) last month approached the association to suggest that it purchase doses from Shanghai Fosun through Missioncare Group.
KMT-run local governments also proposed purchasing vaccines through the association, reportedly suggesting that they hold a joint news conference to submit their proposal to the ministry, they added.
The KMT believes that including industry representatives could dilute the impression that the party is insisting on procuring vaccines from Shanghai Fosun, the source said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS