TAIPEI -- As Taiwan battles its first major COVID-19 outbreak, a plane touched down carrying 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccines -- a gift from the U.S.
The donation is a boost to President Tsai Ing-wen's government, which has suffered a drop in public approval and come under pressure to accept Chinese vaccines.
It is also a sign that the Biden administration is continuing to strengthen its relationship with Taiwan as the island deals with diplomatic, economic and military pressure from China. Beijing claims self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory.
"Everyone knows that the donation by the U.S. is very significant," said Arthur Ding, a professor emeritus at the National Chengchi University in Taipei. "It can reduce mounting pressure against President Tsai and [her Democratic Progressive Party] government; lessen, if not eliminate, excuses for those who advocate to import China-made vaccines; and indirectly help stabilize production of electronic products."
Taiwan has struggled to get its hands on vaccines, a situation that has become more urgent as cases have risen from around 1,000 in mid-May to more than 14,000 currently. Its death toll has also shot up from 12 to 569 as of Monday. But in some good news, Taiwan's daily cases came in under 100 on Monday for the first time since mid-May.
Sunday's delivery doubles the number of vaccines that Taiwan has received to 5 million, including 1.24 million AstraZeneca shots that Japan donated earlier this month. Around 6% of Taiwan's 23.5 million people have received at least one dose so far.
The donation "reflects our commitment to Taiwan as a trusted friend and a member of the international family of democracies," said the de facto American embassy in Taipei on its Facebook page.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday that China urged the U.S. "not to use vaccine assistance to engage in political manipulation and interfere in China's internal affairs."
The donation comes as President Joe Biden's administration has continued his predecessor's strong expression of American support for Taiwan, and U.S.-China relations continue to languish.
Last week, the nominee to become the U.S.'s top East Asia diplomat, Daniel Kritenbrink, said the U.S. should "further develop our robust relationship with Taiwan in every sector."
A few days earlier, the G-7 group of industrialized nations, which includes the U.S., gave Taiwan unprecedented support in a post-summit statement that underlined the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Ding said Taiwan-U. S. relations are on course to be "closer than before."
"Taiwan plays a critical role for U.S. leadership in the Indo-Pacific region and this critical role motivates the U.S. to boost its relations with Taiwan across the board," he said. As well as security cooperation between the two sides, he pointed to plans by the U.S. to resume talks on the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, a mechanism to enhance bilateral trade between the two sides.
Workers transport Moderna vaccines shipped from the U.S. to Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on June 20. © Reuters The delivery of 2.5 million vaccines was more than triple the amount originally announced two weeks earlier by three senators who visited Taipei on a military transport plane.
They said Taiwan was in the first tranche of a plan by Biden to give away 80 million vaccines that the U.S. does not need.
President Tsai said on Saturday that following efforts on both sides in the intervening two weeks, the U.S. had decided to increase the number of doses.
One reason for the increase could be that not all countries "have the infrastructure and systems in place to do mass vaccinations," but Taiwan does, said Drew Thompson, a visiting research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Another factor in the decision to prioritize Taiwan could have been its semiconductor industry, as "the U.S. is deeply dependent on Taiwan's contributions to that global supply chain," he said.
Taiwan is an "important U.S. partner in the region, it's a major trading partner, it's a major source of technology, it's a major source of investment," said Thompson.
"Taiwan's intrinsic importance to the United States irrespective of Cross-Strait relations makes it a good candidate for the U.S. investing in their public health, in keeping their factories open, keeping Taiwan safe, secure and prosperous, because the U.S. gains prosperity from Taiwan in that situation," he added.
The donations are a relief to Tsai, whose public approval rating dropped to 45.7% in May, a 21-month low, according to the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation.
While Taiwan has ordered 10 million doses of AstraZeneca, 5 million doses of Moderna and just under 5 million doses of unspecified brands through the U.N.-backed Covax program, shipments have been slow to arrive. Tsai has accused Beijing of scuppering a deal between Taiwan and BioNTech, the German co-developer of the Pfizer vaccine, a charge that China has denied.
China has offered to give vaccines to Taiwan but says Tsai's government is refusing them for political reasons.
"No region in the world has made the process of obtaining vaccines as dramatic as the island of Taiwan, denying abundant sources of vaccines in one direction while pleading for charity in another," said an editorial in the Communist Party-controlled Global Times.
Taiwanese officials have said that China has not provided enough evidence that its own vaccines are safe, and to accept them they would have to change the law, as Taiwan bans imports of Chinese-made medicines.