Will Taiwan’s allies switch allegiance to Beijing to obtain vaccines?

Name: China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns
Uploaded: 2021-05-12T14:29:16.000Z
Duration: 3 min 5 s
Description: China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns

Honduras leader has indicated he may take Beijing’s advice and seek a ‘diplomatic bridge’ to secure Chinese doses

Vaccines offer Beijing a chance to expand its diplomatic reach, including to countries that recognise Taipei, observers say

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Healthcare workers wait to be inoculated in Honduras, where vaccines have been in short supply. Photo: AP

Lawrence Chung

Published: 10:29pm, 12 May 2021Updated: 2:59pm, 17 May 2021

The coronavirus is testing Taiwan’s relations with its formal allies as Taipei struggles to help them with urgently needed vaccines and medical supplies, observers say.

Several of Taipei’s allies had been poached before the pandemic by Beijing, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan. But the impact of Covid-19 on some of the 15 nations that still recognise the self-ruled island has made Beijing’s ability to offer vaccines a persuasive factor in determining diplomatic loyalties.

Honduras – one of the remaining 15 – is considering opening a trade office on the Chinese mainland in the hope of acquiring Chinese vaccines, with doses in severe shortage in the Central American nation. The country of nearly 10 million people has reported about 220,000 infections and 5,600 deaths.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said his government was willing to do whatever it took to alleviate the suffering of the pandemic, according to Reuters. Facing mounting protests, Hernandez said poorer countries desperately needed vaccines and he was willing to do as Beijing had suggested and look for a “diplomatic bridge” to obtain Chinese supplies.

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China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns

He suggested that Mexico, Chile, Argentina or El Salvador – which recognise Beijing diplomatically instead of Taipei – could help Honduras acquire Chinese vaccines, and said he had also asked Taiwan to approach the United States for vaccine assistance.