Taiwanese mission in Thailand clarifies President Tsai’s remark
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand issued a statement on Tuesday explaining that President Tsai Ing-wen was not targeting Thailand over the lack of vaccine supplies.
Last Friday, Tsai had said that Thailand was “prioritising” locally produced AstraZeneca vaccines for its own use due to the spike in infections. Thailand’s caseload as of Tuesday had crossed the 200,000 mark.
“The problem is that goods that were supposed to have arrived in June have not,” Tsai had told a local radio station on Friday. Taiwan has ordered 10 million doses of AstraZeneca, which is being produced in Thailand.
She also said there will be a delay in Taiwan’s vaccine rollout due to an imbalance in global supply and demand but said manufacturers are speeding up production to satisfy the rising global demands.
In its statement, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office pointed out that Tsai had not said Thailand was “blocking” the export of AstraZeneca vaccines.
The statement said both Thailand and Taiwan effectively controlled the outbreak last year and now the entire world is dealing with a surge in infections.
It added that Taiwan and Thailand will continue to jointly fight against Covid-19 and promote health and well-being for their people. It also said Taiwan hopes supplies become stable soon so people’s hardships from Covid-19 can be alleviated.
