In an increasing war of words, Taiwan accused China for the first time of blocking a deal with Germany's BioNTech SE for COVID-19 vaccinations, after Beijing's offer to the island via a Chinese company.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office, a division of the mainland Chinese government, said earlier this week that it was willing to offer Taiwan vaccines to aid in the resolution of the current COVID-19 situation.
Taiwan is expected to reject the offer, given it has recently reinforced its decades-long ban on importing pharmaceutical products from mainland China.
Due to the restriction and the fact that the vaccines did not appear to be effective, Taiwan's health minister Chen Shih-Chung told reporters earlier this year that Chinese vaccines are "not an option" for Taiwan.
In fact, Taipei alleges Beijing has impeded its ability to procure and administer vaccines, making COVID-19 vaccinations the newest political conflict between the two sides.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said orders for the AstraZeneca and Moderna injections had been "smoothly" booked during a meeting of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
"As for Germany's BioNTech, we were close to completing the contract with the original German plant, but because of China's intervention, up to now there's been no way to complete it," she said.
China has denied attempting to prevent Taiwan from getting vaccines and has offered to provide them as a gesture of goodwill. On Saturday, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. said it was willing to offer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinations to Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's health commission announced Tuesday that it expects to receive 2 million vaccination doses by June, followed by another 8 million doses in August. Chen did not specify which vaccine would be included in those shipments but said the August supply would most likely include a domestically produced vaccine that has yet to be approved.
Amid the current shortage, Chen said Friday that he had appealed to his U.S. counterpart, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, for access to the U.S.'s excess vaccine supplies.
"We have an urgent need for vaccines, and hope [Becerra] can support Taiwan when it comes to the vaccines the U.S. [is] going to release," Chen told reporters.
