The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Foreign Trade on Wednesday last week announced that it would lift a ban on exports of masks, which took effect on Monday.
According to the bureau’s Chinese-language announcement, the government is requisitioning a quota of domestically manufactured masks per day, to meet demand from its rationing system.
The announcement also said that people are allowed to send masks abroad, lifting the restriction of sending up to 30 masks per two months to first and second-degree relatives living overseas.
At a Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) news conference on Monday last week, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said that as the COVID-19 outbreak has eased in Taiwan, the government would adopt a fixed-number requisition approach to meet domestic demand after inventory tops 300 million units.
The government would apportion the requisition amount — 8 million units per day — to manufacturers according to how many units they have been producing, while the firms are free to sell the remaining masks abroad or within Taiwan.
With the pandemic situation varying from country to country, the price of masks in several European nations has risen to the equivalent of NT$300 per unit, implying that masks “made in Taiwan” will become very sought after.
According to an official from the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Spain — at a joint defense industry cooperation committee meeting between South Korea and Spain in Madrid in November 2017 — issued an official proposal to trade four to six Airbus A400M Atlas transport planes for 34 KT-1 and 20 T-50 trainer jets produced by Korea Aerospace Industries.
European nations insisted on developing the A400M aircraft as replacement for the US-made Lockheed C-130 Hercules and the older Transall C-160s to uphold their sense of pride.
Some countries ordered more than they could handle, and the aircraft, many of which were put in storage upon delivery, have been offered for sale, including five in the UK, 13 to 15 in Germany and 13 in Spain.
Having paid huge sums for the aircraft, these countries have to pay more to maintain them, much to their annoyance.
It would be beneficial for both sides if Taiwan were to trade masks for the latest A400Ms to replace its Lockheed C-130H transport planes which have been used by the Republic of China (ROC) Air Force for almost 30 years.
There have been similar deals in the history of international weaponry exchanges.
For instance, Thailand was reported to have traded 66,000 tonnes of dried longan fruit for 133 Chinese-made armored personnel carriers when the two countries signed a bilateral trade agreement.
When China acquired Soviet-made Su-27s, part of the payment was settled in instant noodles — 200,000 boxes for a fighter jet — as the Soviet Union faced food shortages and the price of a jet was not affordable for China at the time.
In April last year, it was reported that Malaysia intended to procure military aircraft from Pakistan or Russia to replace its MiG-29s, with partial payment to be settled in palm oil in a bid to cut foreign expenditure.
At a time when masks are still a valuable product, the government should adopt a more agile approach to improve diplomatic relations and facilitate arms procurements.
Chang Feng-lin is a university lecturer.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
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