APEC member states with ample supplies of COVID-19 vaccines should help Taiwan and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region obtain doses, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) told the virtual APEC Informal Leaders’ Retreat hosted by New Zealand on Friday.
Representing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who cannot attend APEC meetings due to opposition from China, Chang highlighted Taiwan’s achievements in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since an outbreak of local infections started in May, Taiwan has adapted its pandemic prevention strategy, Chang said.
Taiwan has learned from the new situation and can provide assistance to other APEC countries fighting outbreaks of the virus, he said.
However, after sharing masks and other medical equipment with other nations, Taiwan now needs help acquiring vaccines, Chang said, adding that Japan and the US have donated jabs, and private entities are also in talks to procure doses.
“We still need more vaccines, and we need them sooner,” he said.
Chang’s statement also highlighted the importance of free trade in the post-pandemic era.
“On revitalizing the post-COVID-19 economy, Chinese Taipei urges free trade among APEC members and in the world, after giving consideration to vital national security needs,” Chang said, using the name under which Taiwan is a member of APEC.
Chang voiced concern over some countries’ initiatives to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductor production, saying that “on-shoring” would lead to higher production costs and slower technology development.
The increasing complexity of semiconductors has prompted the internationalization of supply chains, and it would be impractical to “turn back the clock,” he said.
“We do recognize national security concerns, and believe that for security applications, a self-sufficient supply chain within one’s own borders is prudent,” he said. “However, for the much larger civilian market, a supply chain substantially based on a free trade system is by far the best approach.”
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva and WHO Health Emergencies Program executive director Michael Ryan in separate remarks said that countries in the Asia-Pacific region should work toward more fair and efficient vaccine distribution.
That would have a significant positive effect on the recovery of the global economy, they said.
In response to media queries for comment on Chang’s call for vaccines, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that Taiwan is slowly obtaining enough vaccines to inoculate its population.
If the pandemic situation worsens, the government would seek to procure more doses, Su said.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that Chang’s plea to APEC proves that Taiwan still needs more vaccines and that the government is not capable to obtaining more doses.
Reiterating that the KMT wants to procure doses on the nation’s behalf, Chiang on Facebook called on Tsai to allow it to engage in talks with international manufacturers.
Chiang cited the example of TSMC and the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co-affiliated Yonglin Foundation, which last month received government authorization to purchase up to 5 million vaccine doses each from German drugmaker BioNTech.
Earlier this week, the KMT announced that four counties with KMT-led governments wish to independently acquire doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, saying that the central government should quickly allow local governments’ procurement initiatives.
The Executive Yuan at the time said that it would not approve any more individual procurement bids for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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