As the US’ mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign continues at a record pace, one question under debate is what the administration of US President Joe Biden should do with its extra doses — and especially where to send them.
One country that should be at the top of a donation list is Taiwan, in recognition of the help that it provided to the US at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
After weeks of pressure, the Biden administration announced that it is now “looking at options to share American-made AstraZeneca vaccine doses.”
By summer, it is clear that anyone in the US who wants a vaccine would have received one. The US government has purchased 300 million doses each of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines — enough for 300 million people — plus tens of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that are sitting in storage waiting for approval.
Taiwan — which set a gold standard for its COVID-19 response with fewer than 1,200 cases — has been slow to receive and administer vaccine doses. While Taiwan has ordered about 20 million doses from suppliers, more than 58,000 people, mostly healthcare workers, have received at least one dose.
The slow rate is attributed to doubts over the AstraZeneca vaccine’s safety, potentially leading to their expiration by the end of this month if not used.
Considering the danger of the many virus variants surging around the globe, the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should work to bolster public receptiveness to whatever vaccines are available. Taiwan has made it this far in the pandemic; it would a shame for a lapse to occur due to vaccine hesitancy.
The slow pace at which Taiwan is receiving COVID-19 vaccines is nothing particularly unique. Countries around the globe are not receiving what they paid for and are having to lower their vaccination goals as a result.
However, Taiwan has faced another, unique set of vaccine issues related to Chinese interference. Taipei has encountered issues in its effort to acquire 5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and has blamed Beijing for meddling in the process. The doses would be manufactured in Shanghai, so Beijing can exert some influence in this regard.
Taiwan’s unique geopolitical position allows China to pressure companies to spurn it. Beijing has not shied away from using its economic heft to get countries and private corporations to follow its line with regards to Taiwan.
It has worked on clothing companies and airlines, and now that strategy has worked on pharmaceutical companies.
Given Taiwan’s difficulties, the Biden administration should help the nation. When the US had massive personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages at the beginning of the pandemic last year, Taiwan donated millions of masks.
Taiwan has donated more than 30 million surgical masks to countries around the world, including more than 12 million to the US through its “Taiwan can help” campaign. Those donations still continue one year later.
At a time when US healthcare workers were using trash bags and bandanas for protection, Taiwan provided much-needed PPE. Those masks no doubt saved the lives of healthcare workers at a critical juncture.
The US owes Taiwan a debt for these PPE donations. The best way for Washington to repay this debt is to provide Taiwan with something that it could use right now: vaccine doses.
Such a gesture would also reward the proper way to help those in need — a stark contrast to how Beijing carried out a similar donation campaign. As Taipei was quietly donating PPE around the world, Beijing pushed countries to express public praise and thanks for receiving donations from China. Some of those donations proved to be defective.
The difference in approach between Taipei and Beijing has continued into this year with vaccine acquisition. China reportedly pressured Paraguay into switching diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China in exchange for millions of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines.
Taiwan worked with India, which provided Paraguay with 100,000 doses. By working with India to provide Paraguay with vaccines, Taiwan showed that it can work with other partners to help countries in need.
Taiwan has its own vaccines in trials. If approved, they could be ready for mass production by July. A best-case scenario would be for Washington to help Taipei complete its domestic vaccination efforts before a Taiwanese vaccine is ready — thus freeing up another vaccine for use in countries struggling to contain the pandemic.
Instead of working with India — which is facing a terrifying surge in COVID-19 cases and related PPE shortages — to provide doses, Taiwan could become another trusted vaccine provider to other countries finding it difficult to acquire them.
As the pandemic worsens around the globe, having another vaccine ready for distribution would be another example of Taiwan helping countries in need.
While Taipei cannot expect countries to switch diplomatic relations, a strong soft power campaign centered around no-strings-attached PPE and vaccine donations could help strengthen informal ties and potentially create an even better case for participation in international organizations.
Taiwan has proven itself to be a reliable partner for the US, despite its geopolitical limitations.
The Biden administration has expressed strong support for Taiwan in its initial months, most recently by sending an unofficial delegation to Taipei to provide a “personal signal” of Biden’s support. Its initial signals and messages are a great first step as the administration begins to set its policy agenda.
When healthcare workers in the US and around the globe needed PPE, Taiwan stepped up. Now, the US has an abundance of vaccines. The Biden administration should return the favor by providing Taiwan with some of its excess doses.
Thomas Shattuck is a research fellow in the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is also a member of Foreign Policy for America’s NextGen Foreign Policy Initiative.
An old Latin adage reads: Si vis pacem, para bellum. Translated it means: “If you wish peace, then prepare for war.” This adage has many variants and claims to authorship, but what is most important is its message for a peaceful Taiwan. Why should Taiwan prepare for war? The reasons are many and obvious. Certainly, such preparation is not because Taiwan wants war or is a warlike nation. Instead, the answer is found in its neighbor, China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a one-party state, is ambitious and troubled — and that combination makes war a viable option,
Unless Hollywood movies like Greenland, Deep Impact, and Armageddon have predictive powers and a rogue space rock is heading our way, stopping Chinese Communist Party expansionism is likely to prove the single most challenging and dangerous problem of our lifetimes. How can the United States, Taiwan, and other liberal democracies prepare for and prevent attacks from China? How can Washington bolster Taipei’s confidence when it doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a real country and, so far, lacks the political will to make major adjustments to its ossified China policy and Taiwan policy? How can Taiwan make itself heard on the world stage when
Hypersonic weapons are defined as armaments capable of traveling at speeds faster than Mach 5 and can be broadly classified into two types: hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV) and hypersonic cruise missiles. The former are launched into the upper atmosphere by ballistic missiles. The vehicle is then separated from the booster to maneuver, or glide, toward its target. The latter can be launched from a jet plane or rocket to reach supersonic speed before igniting a scramjet engine to achieve hypersonic speeds. As the US engages in a great-power competition with China and Russia, all three countries are racing to field hypersonic
As a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadet, I frequently get asked how quickly the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might overrun Taiwan if it invaded before 2040. My answer is that the PLA will not be able to take over Taiwan within that time frame, because the more eager the PLA is to complete the task in a short period, the more likely it would fail — and fail big. Having a slim chance of winning is what keeps the PLA from taking action. From time to time, some PLA leaders or keyboard fighters make threats — one of the
RSS