"US Conducts Top-Secret Operation to Support Taiwan with Vaccines...Significantly Increases Supply Volume"

"Taiwan Vaccine Transport Completed Secretly, Arrived Safely"
"China's Plot to Divide Taiwan Seems to Have Led to Massive Additional Supply Decision"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-woo] Taiwanese media are drawing attention by reporting that the United States maintained near top-secret security in its vaccine support for Taiwan and significantly increased the vaccine supply to block China's strategy to divide Taiwan. There are also forecasts that the competitive vaccine diplomacy between the US and China over Taiwan will continue.

According to Taiwan's Liberty Times on the 21st, after conducting an operation reminiscent of a covert mission to transport 2.5 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan, the entire vaccine shipment safely arrived in Taiwan the day before. The China Airlines B777 cargo plane carrying the vaccines departed from Memphis, Tennessee, USA on the 19th and arrived at Taoyuan International Airport in northern Taiwan on the afternoon of the 20th (local time).

The Liberty Times reported, "The US's support of 2.5 million doses this time came after three incumbent US federal senators announced 750,000 doses in Taiwan earlier this month and then returned to the US to persuade the administration of the need for additional vaccine supply, resulting in an additional 1.75 million doses. In particular, Republican Senator Mitt Romney of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee publicly urged the US government for additional vaccine supply to Taiwan while mentioning China's vaccine diplomacy, and the support of multiple senators was effective."

Furthermore, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which functions as the US Embassy in Taiwan, reportedly submitted a situational report that also served as the background for the support decision. The report, according to Liberty Times, explained that under the approval of senior officials within the Joe Biden administration, the vaccine support decision was made after understanding the worsening COVID-19 situation in Taiwan and the unsettled public sentiment caused by China's various tactics.