Taiwan DPP's claim of mainland blocking vaccine purchase unfounded: spokesperson

Taiwan compatriots wait to receive COVID-19 vaccination records at a community health center in Malu Town of Jiading new city, east China's Shanghai, April 19, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Ying)

BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Thursday denounced the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority in Taiwan for suggesting the mainland impeded the island's purchase of COVID-19 vaccines produced by German pharmaceutical company BioNTech.

This accusation is fabricated out of thin air and once again reveals the DPP's tactic of shifting blame to the mainland, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a press conference.

Zhu noted that, in March 2020, Shanghai-based Fosun Pharma inked an agreement with BioNTech for the research and development of BioNTech vaccines and the exclusive commercial rights and interests on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

With full knowledge of the issue, the DPP, however, attempted to circumvent Fosun Pharma to buy vaccines from BioNTech, violating the commercial agreement and the principle of good faith, Zhu said.

This cynical move demonstrates that the DPP has no wish to address the actual needs of the people of Taiwan. Instead, it was an attempt to deceive the people on the island to achieve its own political gains, Zhu said.

The people increasingly see that it is the DPP authority that is creating obstacles to addressing the vaccine shortage on the island, Zhu said, adding that the DPP is trampling on the health and well-being of the people of Taiwan.

Zhu warned that each passing day that this farce continues represents more precious time wasted and more lives lost.