Anti-Covid-19 vaccines: Foxconn and TSMC help Taipei and Beijing save face
Taiwanese receiving a dose of vaccine on June 16, 2021, in Taipei (Image illustration).
AP - Chiang Ying-ying
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Two Taiwanese tech giants rush to the aid of the government for the purchase of vaccines.
Foxconn and TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co) have just signed an agreement with the Chinese Fosun Pharma, representative in Beijing of the German laboratory BioNTech, to buy 10 million doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccines.
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This is the first time that Taiwanese private companies have been allowed to purchase vaccines.
The two electronics giants, Foxconn and TSMC will each spend $ 175 million to buy ten million Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines.
The vaccines will then be given to the government, which is also waiting for millions of doses of AstraZeneca and Moderna.
This is because there is an emergency in the archipelago where the health situation is deteriorating sharply.
Only 14% of the 23.5 million Taiwanese are now vaccinated.
Stalled negotiations
Authorities in Taipei have been struggling for months to obtain Pfizer vaccine directly from Germany.
Because it is the Chinese group Fosun Pharma which has the distribution rights for China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Taipei accuses China, which considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, of having blocked the negotiations.
This agreement obtained by the tech giants will therefore allow the two enemy brothers to save face.
► See also
: Taiwan accuses China of using the vaccine for political ends
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Coronavirus
Taiwan
China
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