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The Guardian. 作者: Helen Davidson.



How Taiwan’s struggle for Covid vaccines is inflaming tensions with China

台灣對疫苗取得的掙扎是如何激化與中國之間的對立

As island faces new outbreak and mistrust of Chinese jabs, Beijing objects to
donations from US and Japan

當這座島嶼面臨新的疫情爆發與對中國疫苗的不信任，北京向美國與日本的捐贈表達抗議



Vaccines are the latest flashpoint inflaming cross-strait tensions between
China and Taiwan, as the latter tries to fend off its worst coronavirus
outbreak since the pandemic began with a mostly unvaccinated population and
the former rails against outside assistance from Taipei’s allies.



Global vaccination drives are widely seen as the only way out of the Covid-19
pandemic, but in Taiwan, just 3% of the population has received at least one
dose. Now the island is battling hundreds of cases a day and does not have
enough vaccines for its 23.5 million people.



Affected by global shortages, low initial orders, and accusations of
geopolitical interference, it has received only a few million doses, and
international allies are stepping up to help.

受到全球短缺，低量的訂單影響與指控地緣政治的干預，台灣僅收到百萬餘的劑量，此時
其國際盟友正挺身幫助。

On 4 June, Japan sent a plane carrying 1.24m AstraZeneca doses and days later
a delegation of US senators flew to Taipei to announce a donation of 750,000
doses.

在六月四日，日本派送了裝載124萬劑AZ疫苗的飛機，而數日之後美國參議員的代表團飛
到台北宣布75萬劑疫苗的捐贈。

Both countries cited their close friendship with Taiwan and noted,
respectively, Taiwan’s assistance to Japan after the 2011 tsunami and to the
US early in the pandemic. The donations were enthusiastically welcomed by
Taipei, with huge messages of thanks projected on to buildings in the city.



Beijing strongly objected. China’s foreign ministry suggested Japan was
exploiting the pandemic “to put on political shows”, and accused the US of
breaching the “one-China” principle, which asserts that Taiwan is an
inalienable part of China.

北京強烈的抗議。中國外交部表示日本是在利用疫情「來政治作秀」，與控訴美國違反了
堅持台灣是中國不可分離一部分的「一個中國」原則。

Both donations showed how much less Tokyo and Washington worry about
aggravating Beijing, amid deteriorating relations. Drew Thompson, a former US
defence department official responsible for managing bilateral relations with
China and Taiwan, said it was probably a logistical coincidence that Japan’s
vaccines arrived on the hypersensitive anniversary of the Tiananmen Square
massacre, and that the US senators flew in on a military plane. But previous
administrations in Tokyo and Washington might have ensured they didn’t.



“The donations were less about the China relationship than they were about
helping Taiwan,” Thompson said. “[Japan and the US] have a vested interest
in supporting Taiwan. Taiwan is a major trading partner, a critical supply
chain link, there’s Japanese expats in Taiwan, there’s strong affinity
between two cultures.



“Japan is really doing this because it’s in their interest to keep the
population of Taiwan healthy,” he said, also citing Taiwan’s globally
crucial semiconductor manufacturing.

「日本是認真的基於他的利益讓台灣的人口保持健康狀態，」他說，並且提及了台灣在全
球重要的半導體製程。

“You’re not supporting Taiwan just to antagonise China, and that gets lost
a lot in these conversations.”

「你不是純然為了與中國對立而支持台灣的，而這在許多對話中都未被提及。」



Chinese jabs would be political ‘kiss of death’

中國疫苗會變成政治的「死亡之吻」



Beijing says it has the answer to Taiwan’s problems, offering to supply
vaccines to the government or – after Taiwan rejected that offer – directly
to any resident who wants to fly to China for a jab.

北京表示他有台灣問題的解答，提議供應疫苗或是--在台灣拒絕了這項提議後--直接供應
給讓任何有意為了施打疫苗飛往中國的島民。

China’s altruistic statements have been somewhat contradicted by its
objections to the US and Japan donations, and by Taiwanese allegations (which
China denies) that it actively blocked a deal Taiwan was working on with the
German vaccine producer BioNTech.

中國的利他言論與他對美國和日本捐贈的抗議，與台灣對中國積極阻礙台灣與德國疫苗供
應商BioNTech進行的交易的指控(中國否認)似乎有些矛盾。

“One of the major obstacles for Taiwan to obtain vaccines from foreign
sources, such as BNT or even Covax, is indeed the Chinese government,” said
Prof Wen-Tsong Chiou, the director of Academica Sinica’s information law
centre.

「台灣獲取外國疫苗資源的一項主要障礙的確就是中國政府，」中央研究院法律學研究所
資訊法中心主任邱文聰教授說。

Beijing considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province of China that must be
retaken, by force if necessary. Under this constant existential threat, Taiwan
’s government and population has low trust in Chinese vaccines.

北京認定台灣是中國叛離必須重新奪回的一省，必要時甚至要透過武力。在長期的生存威
脅下，台灣政府和人民對中國疫苗有很低的信任。

If Taiwan accepted Chinese vaccines it would be the political “kiss of death
for the DPP [Taiwan’s ruling party]”, Thompson said. “It’s quite likely
China would take some sort of gratuitous swipe … see it as a capitulation or
recognition of Beijing’s superiority.”

如果台灣接受了中國疫苗，那會變成「民進黨(台灣當前執政黨)的死亡之吻」，Thompson
說。「中國很可能會進行一些無故的抨擊，將之視為一種投降或對北京上級的承認。」

China said Fosun – the Shanghai-based manufacturer with exclusive regional
production rights for Pfizer/BioNTech – had offered to supply Taiwan, but
Taiwan had refused.

中國表示復星--取得Pfizer/BioNTech獨家地區生產權的上海製造商--已經提議要供應台
灣，但是台灣拒絕了。

Thompson said there were scientific and transparency concerns about China’s
vaccines, which made it unsurprising and potentially sensible for Taiwan to
reject an offer of Chinese-developed vaccines. But if the Fosun offer is
legitimate, refusing it is “entirely political”.



“Pfizer and BioNTech have a huge incentive to ensure that the Fosun product
is equivalent, so I would think there is no concern,” he said. “There’s no
reason not to take it.”

「輝瑞跟BNT有強烈的動機確保復星的產品具有同等品質，所以我認為這沒有疑慮，」他
說，「沒有理由不接受。」

Polling has shown Taiwanese people are largely opposed to receiving a
Chinese-made vaccine, but not necessarily to a foreign vaccine produced in
China, like the Fosun/BioNtech one.

民調顯示台灣人強烈反抗接受中國研發的疫苗，但不見得拒絕外國在中國生產的疫苗，如
復星/BNT這一類。



The push for domestic vaccines

對國產疫苗的推動



Approval ratings for Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, have plummeted from
more than 70% to about 40% in the 12 months since her re-election, and her
government is taking political heat for the outbreak and the vaccine shortage.

台灣總統蔡英文的滿意度在連任後的12個月從70%暴跌到40%，而他的政府正為疫情爆發與
疫苗短缺接受政治批判。

Before the current outbreak in Taiwan, so few members of priority groups were
booking shots that authorities briefly opened vaccination up to the general
population. But now community appetite is bigger than available supplies.

在當前的疫情爆發之前，只有非常少的優先群體預約了疫苗，導致當局短暫的開放一般民
眾施打，然而現在眾人的需求已經比供應量來得大了。

The health minister, Chen Shih-chung, said Taiwan hoped to have 60% of the
population receive at least one shot by October – a target that requires
about 12m doses and depends on no more delayed orders and on the production
of domestic vaccines.

衛福部長陳時中說台灣希望能在十月之前至少有60%的人口接種至少一劑疫苗--一個需要
1200萬劑，不能負擔更多延遲訂單而依賴國產疫苗的目標。

On Thursday, Chen said Taiwan had held talks with AstraZeneca to produce its
vaccine but that the talks had fallen through. He previously said Taiwan was
in talks with US companies about making their vaccines, though he did not
name them.

在星期四，陳時中說台灣已經與AZ溝通過代工他們的疫苗，但這項對話無疾而終。他先前
表示台灣曾與美國公司溝通過製造他們的疫苗，不過他並沒有說出是哪些公司。

Last week, a member of Taiwan’s vaccine review board who had recently
resigned accused Tsai of putting undue pressure on the panel to approve
domestic vaccines still in trial stage, when she publicly announced she
expected doses to be available by July.

上周，一名最近辭職的台灣疫苗審查委員指控蔡英文施加了不當的壓力在專家小組上以通
過仍然在試驗階段的國產疫苗，當蔡英文公開宣示國產疫苗能在七月時進行供應。

Under pressure, the government has said private organisations can import
vaccines, though this is yet to happen and the offer is complicated by the
fact that most vaccine manufacturers prefer to deal directly with governments.

面臨壓力之下，政府表明私人組織能夠進口疫苗，雖然說這尚未發生，且多數疫苗供應商
偏好直接與政府交易也複雜化了這項提議。

The opposition Kuomintang party and several politicians at the local county
level have sought to capitalise on the vaccine difficulties, leading to
political slanging matches. But Lev Nachman, a visiting scholar at the
National Taiwan University, said it still seemed “in the DPP’s electoral
interest not to get any China vaccines”.



Vaccine doses are being steadily administered to priority groups, and a
domestic vaccine candidate announced it would seek emergency approval on
Thursday. Nachman said these developments might keep the DPP’s head above
the political water, but if not, the question of accepting Chinese vaccines
could become more realistic.

疫苗正穩定的施與優先群體，而一個國產疫苗候選公司宣布會在週四尋求緊急授權。
Nachman說這些發展或許能讓民進黨政治上能夠喘口氣，但如果不能，接受中國疫苗的議
題將會變得更加現實。

“It would be foolish to say no, but it would be a measure of last resort,”
Nachman said.

「拒絕會是很愚蠢的，但他會是一種最後的手段，」Nachman說。


https://tinyurl.com/u9fp7fd8


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