Japan to donate COVID shots to Taiwan as part of vaccine aid initiative for Southeast Asia

As part of Tokyo's free vaccination aid plan for Southeast Asian countries, the Japanese government stated that it will provide additional AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan. During a press conference on Friday, October 15, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi stated that Japan has distributed 25 million vaccine doses to different countries. He also stated that Japan intends to distribute an additional 4.9 million vaccine doses to Southeast Asian countries, including 2 million doses each to Indonesia and the Philippines, 500,000 doses to Vietnam, and 400,000 doses to Thailand, reported Taiwan News. 

Japan has supplied 3.9 million COVID-19 vaccines to Taipei in five consecutive shipments since June. Motegi further stated that another batch of AstraZeneca vaccine will be transported to Taiwan soon, reported the outlet. Meanwhile, Joanne Ou, a spokesperson for Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), thanked Japan for its recent offer, saying it will definitely help enhance the country's vaccination coverage and deepen ties between Tokyo and Taipei. Notably, this came after Taiwan achieved a 60% first-dose immunisation coverage rate on Friday, October 15. 

On Thursday, October 14, Taiwan's Health Minister Chen Shih-chung informed that the island nation will soon sign a contract to buy the new drug - Molnupiravir - for treating COVID-19 after trials revealed it cut hospitalisations and fatalities by half. Molnupiravir is an experimental oral antiviral medicine that was created to treat influenza and has demonstrated to be particularly effective against COVID-19, according to Chen, who oversees the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), reported Central News Agency (CNA). Further, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang informed that Molnupiravir, developed by Big Pharma firm Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, will be used in Taiwan mainly to treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. 

Japan's vaccine support comes amid China's increased military activities around Taiwan

It should be mentioned here that Japan's vaccine support coincides with China's increased military activities around Taiwan, which is located at the western end of the Japanese archipelago. According to Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen China is undermining the regional order in the South and East China Seas and the routinization of Chinese military activity in Taiwan's southern air defence identification zone has had a substantial impact on both national and aviation security. Meanwhile, on October 9, China's President Xi Jinping vowed to pursue "reunification" with Taiwan through peaceful means and emphasised that the government is resolutely opposed to any foreign intervention in the matter. Notably, Beijing asserts absolute sovereignty over Taiwan, despite the island's self-government for more than seven decades. 

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