Taipei: Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Thursday said that China is providing vaccines and other pandemic assistance to gain political power in Taiwan.
Speaking to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in a video conference, Wu said,” China is considering Taiwan as a part of it and hence Beijing’s Communist Party leaders to impose their political agenda on many others.”
In particular, China’s “vaccine diplomacy” is creating divisions among countries in Central and South America, giving Beijing an opportunity to exert its influence in the Western Hemisphere, Wu said.
“China then uses this partnership to lure or pressure those allies of Taiwan and the US to lean toward Beijing. Through these maneuverings, China is trying to gain political influence in the region at the coast of Taiwan and the US,” he said.
Wu said Taiwan’s government and citizenry are “absolutely committed to self-defense” and the administration is working to boost its military capabilities, including through the purchase of weapons from the United States.
Taiwan split from mainland China during a civil war in 1949 and has never been governed by China’s ruling Communists.
Wu also accused Beijing of deliberately raising tensions in the South and East China Seas.
