The United States will donate 750,000 doses of vaccine to Taiwan to help it face the blockade of the Chinese regime

United State Donate 750,000 doses to Taiwan The coronavirus vaccine comes at a time when the region is setting records for daily deaths from the disease, with 36 deaths in the last hours.

The announcement was made by Senator Tammy Duckworth during a visit to Taiwan to assess the status of its Asian ally, an accidental point of contention with China, which claims sovereignty over the territory against the independence ambitions of local authorities.

“It was extremely important to the United States that Taiwan be included in the first group to receive donations, because we recognize their urgent need and value our partnership.Duckworth explained in remarks compiled by Taiwan’s official news agency, the Central News Agency (CNA).

Taiwan’s foreign ministry praised the commitment, which “sends a strong and clear message of US support, and the Taiwan government is grateful for that.”

Duckworth and fellow US Senators Dan Sullivan and Chris Coons arrived at Taipei airport on Sunday and were received by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu to assess the situation in the territory, which was unable to join the international vaccination initiative under pressure from the Chinese government. So, The vaccination rate of the island’s population of 23.6 million is still less than 3 percent.

US President Joe Biden announced last week that his country will donate about 25 million doses of vaccines to countries that need them, most of them through the international Covax program, and the rest goes to allied countries and strategic partners. epidemic. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan made it clear that the United States wants to “maintain some flexibility” in allocating doses outside of the Kovacs formula as needed.

Washington is Taipei’s main ally Although it does not have full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, because it officially recognizes China, which considers the island an integral part of its territory.

Meanwhile, Taiwan has recorded 343 cases of COVID-19, all of which are national transmissions, and 36 deaths from the disease in recent hours, according to the Central Epidemiological Command Center (CECC). A total of 260 people died from this epidemic.

The national cases included 335 newly confirmed infections and eight confirmed test results accumulated over the past week, according to the organization.

The new cases bring the total number of infections in Taiwan to 11,298, of which more than 9,900 domestic infections have been reported since May 15, the first day Taiwan began reporting more than 100 domestic cases since the outbreak began. In early 2020, this is largely due to the emergence of a large outbreak in religious gatherings that have spread across the capital Taipei and New Taipei.

(With information from AFP and Europa Press)

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