Shanghai tongji university, University in Shanghai, China

Amid China's pressure to block access to the Covid-19 vaccine to Taiwan, former US assistant secretary of defense has said Biden administration's plan to donate COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide should include Taiwan.This comes as Washington announced in May that 80 million vaccine doses would be shipped abroad by the end of June to aid the international community amid the pandemic.Making a case for Taiwan, former assistant secretary of defense Randall G. Schriver said that Taiwan merits special consideration, as a responsibility of the United States under the Taiwan Relations Act.In a statement, he also said Taiwan faces a uniquely difficult political obstacle as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is jeopardizing Taiwan's public health for its authoritarian political objectives."The CCP has aggressively sought to thwart Taiwan's vaccine efforts. From late-stage meddling of vaccine purchasing contracts to condemnation of allies' offers of assistance, it is likely these efforts will continue as Taiwan pursues avenues to secure vaccine support."According to Schriver, Taiwan is critically vulnerable to an outbreak and its population density is highly susceptible to rapid transmission of COVID-19."This is exacerbated by Taiwan's lack of access to the World Health Organization and other lifelines of international support due to CCP coercion. This could be a window of opportunity to vaccinate the public before the disease gets a foothold," he added.Meanwhile, Taiwan on Monday had said China continues to sabotage the island's plan to procure COVID-19 vaccines.Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) made these remarks after the Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed that Taiwan plans to achieve independence through the COVID-19 vaccine.China has continued to isolate Taiwan in the international arena, such as blocking the nation's participation in the World Health Assembly, the MAC said.The MAC further stated that that Beijing has also been interfering with Taiwan's attempts to acquire Germany's BioNTech vaccines. A contract with the German biotech company was cancelled after it insisted Taiwan remove "country" from a press release announcing the agreement.Last week, Japan had said it would consider sharing its COVID-19 vaccines with other countries as a ruling party committee urged it to provide a portion of its AstraZeneca PLC vaccine stock to Taiwan.This comes as Taiwan faces an urgent need to secure vaccines as it witnessed a dramatic surge in cases.( With inputs from ANI )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Shanghai Tongji UniversityFOLLOW

Shanghai tongji university, Latest News

A independent panel probing the plight of Uyghurs in China is currently hearing witness testimony of torture and gang rapes at Church House, London. ...

Mumbai City FC on Saturday informed that midfielder Rowllin Borges has agreed to a contract extension with the Indian Super League (ISL) club which will see him commit his future to the Islanders until May 2024, with an option to extend for a further ...

One person died and seven others are missing following a coal and gas outburst in a coal mine in central China's Henan Province, local authorities said Saturday. ...

Beijing, June 5 Police in China have cracked 2,278 criminal cases related to illegal fishing and arrested 3,966 ... ...

Washington, June 4 The head of China's Wuhan virology lab, also called as the 'bat woman', and an ... ...

China on Friday opposed remarks made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and termed the widespread crackdown as a "political turmoil". ...

The National Bureau of Statistics of China has revised its figures for ten years to note that the country's population surpassed 1.4 billion in 2017, two years earlier than previously thought, due to an 'error in sampling for 2011 through 2019' in th ...

Amid China's pressure to block access to the Covid-19 vaccine to Taiwan, former US assistant secretary of defense has said Biden administration's plan to donate COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide should include Taiwan. ...