According to reports, the Chinese government has yet to respond. (Figurative)
Taipei, Taiwan:
Taiwan has again offered to provide assistance to China to help it deal with a surge in COVID-19 cases, but the Chinese authorities have yet to respond, Taiwanese official media reported late Thursday.
China scrapped its strict COVID controls last month after protests against it, abandoning a policy that had protected its 1.4 billion people from the virus for three years.
Victor Wang, head of Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center, told the official Central News Agency that he sent an email to Chinese authorities this week asking how Taiwan could help with China’s rising cases.
The rise in cases in China has raised concerns from the World Health Organization that Beijing was underreporting virus deaths.
Wang said Taiwan also sent an email to China in early December to “remind” authorities there of a community outbreak and serious cases among children.
China, which claims the island as its own despite strong objections from the democratically elected government, views Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen as a separatist and has refused to speak to her administration since taking office in 2016. .
In a New Year’s speech earlier this month, Tsai offered for the first time to provide China with “necessary assistance” to help it deal with a surge in COVID cases, but said Chinese military activities near the island were not they were beneficial to peace and stability.
Health Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan said Taiwan could offer medicines or vaccines to China, but it is unclear whether Beijing would accept it, according to the Central News Agency.
Taiwan and China have repeatedly discussed their respective measures to control the spread of COVID.
China has increased pressure on Taiwan to assert its sovereignty claims, including almost daily Chinese air force missions near the island for the past three years.
Taiwan vows to fight back, saying that only its people can decide their own future and that Beijing’s claims are void as the PRC has never ruled the island.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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