Taiwan has welcomed the arrival of about 2.5 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine from the US, a gesture that was met angrily by China.
The doses, which landed on the Taoyuan Worldwide Airport outdoors of the capital Taipei Sunday after a one-day flight, greater than tripling an preliminary pledge of 750,000 doses made by the Biden administration to the self-governing island.
In a put up on Fb, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen praised the arrival of the vaccines.
“Whether or not it’s for regional peace and stability or the virus that could be a frequent human adversary, we are going to proceed to uphold frequent concepts and work collectively,” President Tsai wrote.
In accordance with the Reuters information company, a spokesperson for China’s Overseas Ministry urged the U.S. to keep away from “political manipulation within the identify of vaccine help and cease interfering in China’s home affairs.” China claims the self-governed island as a part of its territory, and has provided Taiwan doses of its domestically produced vaccines, which Taipei has refused.
The self-ruled island had been held up as one of many world’s few success tales in containing the unfold of the coronavirus initially of the pandemic, however it has been coping with an sudden outbreak of latest infections which authorities have related to outbreaks amongst flight crews with state-owned China Airways and a resort at Taoyuan Worldwide Airport.
Taiwan at the moment has 14,005 confirmed COVID-19 infections, together with 549 deaths, in keeping with the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Useful resource Middle.