Chinese companies have over the past five years obtained exclusive distribution rights in Taiwan for 29 percent of new pharmaceuticals, the Legislative Yuan said, urging the government to intervene, as it said the issue extends far beyond Chinese agency over the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Right of agency for drug distribution has received widespread attention this year, after Germany’s BioNTech inked a deal with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group (上海復星醫藥集團) to develop and distribute its COVID-19 vaccine in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau.
This has complicated Taipei’s efforts to procure the vaccine.
Private entities have stepped in to purchase doses to donate to the government, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation and the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密)-affiliated Yonglin Foundation.
In a report dated Monday, the Legislative Yuan’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau decried the arrangement as unreasonable.
“Requiring South Korea to purchase vaccines through a North Korean distributor or Israel to go through a Palestinian firm would be preposterous,” the report said.
Granting exclusive distribution rights in a nation to its political and military adversary is ethically problematic, it said.
Due to the antagonism and mutual distrust between the two nations, it is highly unlikely that they would complete a contract and instead use it as a tool for political manipulation, it added.
This would further hinder transactions and jeopardize the right to healthcare of the “represented country,” the report added.
Right of agency over pharmaceuticals has long been an issue, the bureau said.
Over the past five years, Chinese firms have obtained exclusive distribution rights to Taiwan for 29 percent of new pharmaceuticals, posing an increasingly serious problem that cannot be ignored, it said.
The bureau recommended that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and national security agencies intervene in China’s attempts to monopolize Taiwan’s pharmaceutical market.
Using appropriate channels, officials should persuade multinationals to avoid signing right-of-agency contracts for Taiwan with Chinese distributors, thereby preventing human rights, moral and political controversies, it said.
All import licensing procedures should follow WTO protocols, as Taiwan, Germany and China are all members of the global trade body, the report added, recommending that the Ministry of Economic Affairs seek a decision from the WTO or another international economic forum to ensure fair and timely access to vaccines worldwide.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
MEDIA, SOCIETY FOCUS: Doublethink Lab said that Beijing is trying to coerce countries that rely on China economically to pursue policies in its favor China has stronger influence over Taiwan’s media and society than any other country, the Taipei-based Doublethink Lab think tank said yesterday, as it announced its China Index gauging Beijing’s global influence. Taiwan ranked 11th overall among 82 countries assessed, but first in terms of social and media influence, Doublethink Lab chairman Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a news conference in Taipei. More than 200 experts and academics participated in the project, including some highly influential figures, Shen said. The index collects information from countries worldwide to gauge China’s influence and assess how Chinese policies affect them, Shen said. In terms of Chinese
RSS