The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the Polish government for its vaccine donation and said it looks forward to fostering more exchanges with the central European nation.
The delivery of 400,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Taiwan yesterday morning, making Poland Taiwan’s third-largest vaccine donor, after Japan and the US.
Poland has said that its donation is a gesture of gratitude to Taiwan for donating 1 million masks, 5,000 protective suits and 20,000 surgical gowns to the country last year after the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world and many countries had a shortage of supplies.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Poland said it made the donation to return the favor and help Taiwan to raise its vaccination rate.
“Thank you to Poland for providing Taiwan with 400,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses. Your donation reflects the democratic solidarity shared by our countries and peoples in the face of common challenges,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on Twitter yesterday.
The donation once again showed the support that exists between democratic nations, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said.
Poland’s expression of warmth to Taiwan, which is in need of vaccines, demonstrates a “virtuous cycle,” Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said, as he voiced his thanks to Poland.
Poland is the fourth EU member state to have pledged a donation of vaccine doses to Taiwan, following Lithuania (20,000 AstraZeneca doses), Slovakia (10,000 doses of an unspecific vaccine brand) and the Czech Republic (30,000 Moderna doses).
Poland’s foreign policy has been affected by the China factor and changes in US policy toward Europe since US President Joe Biden took office, international affairs expert Yang San-yi (楊三億) said on Saturday in comments on the gradually warming relations between Taiwan and Poland.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on China and Hong Kong, expressing its hope that Beijing would safeguard democracy in the territory, Yang said.
The arrest and prosecution of a senior Huawei employee allegedly involved in spying in Poland has also triggered controversy, he said.
Since taking office, Biden’s diplomatic approach has been to reconcile with the EU, Yang said.
The Czech Republic, Lithuania and other countries’ interactions with Taiwan and changes in their policies have received enthusiastic support from the US, which has incentivized central and eastern European countries, he said.
In terms of national security, these countries all hope that the US military would have a regular presence in central and eastern Europe, he added.
As a result, increasing exchanges with Taiwan is increasing US support for them, he said.
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
Ninth graders were asked to define “trolling” on this year’s standardized exam, reflecting efforts to make the test better reflect real-life situations. Adjustments to this year’s Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students were revealed on Sunday, after the last cohort of students completed the test over the weekend. The Ministry of Education solicited feedback about the test from teachers, who approved of the new question in the English portion. Not only was question No. 20 “very much in line with real-life situations,” but it also used a new style in which students were asked to ascertain the correct dictionary definition based
Taiwan is on alert for monkeypox, a rare viral disease that has caused 87 infections in 11 countries over the past three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Saturday. The WHO on Friday convened an emergency session to discuss a sudden outbreak of monkeypox in North America and Europe. Since the beginning of this month, 87 confirmed cases and 28 possible cases have been identified in 11 countries. The countries with the highest case counts are England with 29 cases, and Portugal and Spain with 23 each. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease occurring primarily in the tropical rainforest areas
Three human skeletons and artifacts believed to be about 400 years old were unearthed by construction workers at National Ilan University in Yilan County, the university said yesterday. The discoveries were made on May 10 as workers were digging to expand the College of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science’s facilities, the university said in a statement. The skeletons were found at three sites, along with glass beads, copper bells and rings, discs and a fish-shaped metal knot, it said. The find is likely connected to the “Old Baili Village” (擺厘舊社, Bai Li Jiu She), an as-yet-undiscovered Kavalan settlement that has been mentioned in