In response to former President Ma Ying-jeou’s recent call to not reject Chinese vaccines, Taiwan‘s Central Epidemic Command Center Commander Chen Shih-chung said Taiwan does not consider Chinese vaccines a viable option.
Several Taiwanese media reported that Chen made the statement during a media interview on Feb. 14. He pointed out that the Chinese vaccine was not included as a candidate mainly because technical information was incomplete and scientific information had not been published.
Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on February 12 (the first day of the Lunar New Year), while attending a prayer visit, that if the mainland is willing to provide vaccines to Taiwan, don’t immediately reject them. On the same occasion, Ma also suggested not to use the term “Wuhan pneumonia” to refer to the new crown pneumonia. He also said that both sides should promote the cross-strait medical and health cooperation agreement signed 11 years ago as soon as possible.
He further explained that the reason for using Wuhan pneumonia in the first place was the strong threat posed by the disease, and that it started in the Wuhan South China market. As to whether the new crown pneumonia or COVID-19 should be used uniformly, Chen Shizhong said that the command center will not be mandatory. There will be no comment on what the common name should be called, as long as it is not a stigmatizing term.
Chen Shizhong’s speech to the media on Feb. 14 was the first official statement made in Taiwan after Ma Ying-jeou made the above remarks on Feb. 12.
At the same Time, Taiwan’s cross-party legislators also expressed their views on Ma’s aforementioned remarks. DPP legislator Wang Dingyu said in a post on his Facebook page on Saturday (Feb. 13) that “to condone the enemy is to ask for trouble”. According to Wang, “From the fact that Ma does not dare to show solidarity with Hong Kong and also ignores the tragic situation of the Tibetan and Xinjiang Uighur people, the ‘cross-strait relations’ pursued by such a person is only to make Taiwan a submissive surrendered general of China,” Wang asked. “Is this the former president of Taiwan or a sounding board for the Chinese Communist Party?”
In a Sunday Facebook post, Taiwan’s political party, Taiwan Kijin legislator Chen Paiwei, said, “Among the vaccines available on the world market, the China Crowd vaccine is the one with the most backward technology, the most opaque experimental data, and the most scandals.” Chen Baiwei’s Facebook post said, “At present we are not afraid of external enemies, but of internal thieves!”
Taiwan’s Epidemic Command Center Commander Chen Shih-chung confirmed at a press conference last week that a 5.05 million dose supply contract for the new crown pneumonia vaccine was signed with the U.S. company Modena, and supply will begin in the second quarter.
DPP legislator Hsu Chi-chih said why Ma Ying-jeou is still so insistent on importing Chinese vaccines. He questioned, does Ma Ying-jeou himself want to fight first? DPP legislator Chen Ting-fei said that Ma Ying-jeou keeps using Chinese vaccines to brush up his presence, even during the New Year, with ill intentions.
The former KMT legislator Sun Daqian believes that the DPP is continuing to play the trick of “opposing every Chinese” and “opposing every horse”. Sun Daqian pointed out that so far, the command center has only been able to determine the purchase of 5 million doses of vaccines, and there is still a huge gap between the majority of the people in Taiwan to be able to complete the administration of vaccines.
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