US, Japan Covid Aid Aims To Counter China Influence In Indo-Pacific: Taiwan

As Taiwan faces a spike in COVID-19 cases, US and Japan have stepped forward and provided vaccines against the infection to the island.

The United States and Japan COVID-19 vaccine support to Taiwan is intended as a countermeasure to China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan News reported, citing a political scientist. As Taiwan faces a spike in COVID-19 cases, US and Japan have stepped forward and provided vaccines against the infection to the island. The move has irked China which considers Taiwan its own territory. Japan's donation of over 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan last week was followed by a visit by three American senators who announced that the US has pledged 750,000 vaccines to the country as part of its program to distribute unused vaccines worldwide. While the relief was interpreted by some as reciprocating Taiwan's assistance to the two countries in the past, the moves also demonstrate Washington and Tokyo's determination to check Chinese political manoeuvring aimed at sowing discord in Taiwanese society, said Lin Wen-cheng, distinguished professor at National Sun Yat-sen University's Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies (ICAPS).