Taiwan vice-president Lai, in US, repeats accusation China blocked vaccine access

William Lai, possible 2024 presidential candidate, thanks US Democrat Tammy Duckworth, saying he was ‘especially grateful to her last year when Taiwan was unable to obtain vaccines due to the China factor’

Senator Duckworth visited Taipei in June, offered to donate 750,000 vaccine doses; Beijing says Lai’s accusation ‘total fiction’, lodges ‘solemn representation’ with US over his recent virtual meetings with lawmakers

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Taiwans Vice President William Lai (R) and US Vice President Kamala Harris during the Honduras President inauguration ceremony on Friday. Lai has used his trip to Honduras and the US to repeat Taiwan’s accusation last year that China blocked the island from obtaining Covid-19 vaccines. Photo: Taiwan’s Presidential Office via AFP

Published: 5:15pm, 30 Jan 2022Updated: 7:07pm, 30 Jan 2022

Taiwan Vice-President William Lai used his final day in the United States to repeat an accusation that China blocked the island from obtaining Covid-19 vaccines last year, and to thank a US lawmaker for her role in donating the inoculations.

In May, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen accused China of blocking a deal with Germany’s BioNTech SE for Covid-19 vaccines, after Beijing offered the shots to the island via a Chinese company just as Taiwan was dealing with a rise in domestic infections.

Beijing has angrily denied trying to stop Taiwan getting vaccines, and also offered Chinese-developed shots which the island rejected, citing safety concerns. China claims Taiwan as its own territory.

Less than two weeks after Tsai’s comments, Senator Tammy Duckworth, visiting Taipei with two other US lawmakers, said the United States would donate 750,000 vaccine doses to Taiwan.

Speaking to the Illinois Democrat during a stop over in San Francisco while on the way back to Taiwan from Honduras, Lai offered his thanks.