Wednesday, October 06, 2021

Japan’s Vaccine Diplomacy towards Taiwan

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"The growing momentum in Japan-Taiwan ties has clearly manifested itself in the form of Japan’s donations to Taiwan so far of 3.9 million sorely needed COVID-19 vaccines. These instances of vaccine diplomacy have showcased how the two East Asian partners can address health security in the face of mounting geopolitical challenges posed by Beijing’s increasingly coercive diplomacy. Indeed, Tokyo’s vaccination assistance came at a time of ramped up harassment by China that intentionally obstructed Taiwan’s access to COVID-19 vaccines. By providing vaccine donations, Japan—along with a handful of other nations—prioritized non-traditional security cooperation with Taiwan by responding to the island’s health security threats, and sought ways to navigate Japan’s uneasy relations with China effectively.

Japan-Taiwan Friendship: Sharing is Caring

As Taiwan scrambled to combat the new wave of COVID-19 in mid-May, Japan promptly lent a helping hand by donating COVID-19 doses to the nation, with 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine dispatched on June 4, followed by 1.13 million more doses delivered on July 8, another 970,000 doses on July 15, and 64,000 doses on September 7. On September 25, Taiwan received the fifth batch of 500,000 AstraZeneca doses from Japan, raising the cumulative number of COVID-19 jabs received from Japan to 3.9 million doses. ...."

Vol. 6, Issue 19 – Global Taiwan Institute

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