Saving lives, not playing politics

On Wednesday, the number of deaths in Taiwan due to the new wave of COVID-19 pandemic reached 11 on one single day. Yet on the same day, Brent Christensen, the head of American Institute in Taiwan, said "infection numbers remained quite low" and that they were still in talks on vaccines.

The total number of deaths reached 47 on Friday, while that of new infections exceeded 667. Is that number high enough for Christensen?

The recent wave has revealed the true face of some sides, with US politicians topping the list. US politicians are interested in only selling weapons to Taiwan to prevent China's reunification, and when the Taiwan people need vaccines, US politicians go quiet.

The US House of Representatives introduced the "Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement" Act, the so-called EAGLE Act, on Tuesday, which mentioned "supporting Taiwan". Their "support" is made of 100 percent missile and machine guns, and zero percent vaccines. They want their "support" to cause trouble, not save lives.

The local ruling Democratic Progressive Party politicians are no better. Tsai Ing-wen, the local leader, claimed via her Facebook account that they could not finish signing vaccine contracts with Germany-based BNT because of the Chinese mainland, a statement which received fierce criticism in the comment section.

The fact is that mainland enterprises have signed an exclusive contract with BNT, so the only way for Taiwan to legally purchase vaccines from the latter is via the mainland. Yet Tsai, for political reasons, wants to avoid having contact with the mainland.

Is there anything more absurd than this? Tsai is only concerned about her political interests, not the lives of Taiwan people.

The mainland people most care about the health and lives of compatriots on the Taiwan island. Even though the DPP opposes it, the Chinese mainland has expressed willingness to assist Taiwan with vaccines to help protect the compatriots there. On Wednesday, Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said: "Vaccines made on the Chinese mainland are certified by the WHO. Do you want them or not?"

Hope the DPP reverses its course soon. After all, people on the other side of the Taiwan Straits are our compatriots.