The Kuomintang (KMT) is continuing its initiative to care for medical workers. KMT Chairman Chiang donated medical resources to frontline medical staff in hospitals across Taiwan on July 9th. He has pointed out that according to The Economist’s report, Taiwan’s “Global Normalcy Index” is the second lowest in the world. The KMT has always demanded that a sufficient quantity of vaccines be purchased in order to reach an adequate immunization coverage rate. The current slight easing of lockdowns implies that the central government has no confidence to completely lift all the lockdown measures. The public wants to return to a normal life, but it seems this is not going to happen any time soon. Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control extended the level three lockdown until July 26. This shows that all medical staff will need to continue to work hard to handle the heavy workload. We hope to combine support from everywhere to help medical staff to fight the pandemic together!
Regarding the fact that many people were confused about specific standards after the slight lifting of the lockdown measures, Chairman Chiang has pointed out that the instructions that the Centers for Disease Control issued on July th still implies that we are mostly maintaining the level three alert, but the so-called guidelines have left the people confused. He called on the central government to set clear guidelines to communicate and delegate responsibilities to local governments in order to maximize efficiency.
Regarding the US’s decision to delete the tweet showing the ROC flag, Chairman Chiang urges the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Washington to try to express and clarify our country’s position. We must understand the implications behind this move by the US. Does it symbolize possible changes in the triangular relationship between the United States, Mainland China and Taiwan?
In addition, Chairman Chiang points out that given Taiwan’s current level of medical and biotechnology resources, we are absolutely capable of developing our own vaccines. However, the government should also actively seek opportunities to workwith other countries, such as South Korea, Thailand, Japan, and Singapore through international vaccine cooperation. He emphasizes that the development of vaccines is an important national strategic goal and thus the government should have a higher level of strategic approaches to vaccine related issues. It is imperative that we realize the most important thing for Taiwan at this stage is to have enough safe and effective vaccines for the people.
Regarding Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-che’s (柯文哲) recent remarks, Chairman Chiang points out that the trading of barbs between Mayor Ko and the central government seems to tilt in Ko’s favor, but the people will realize in the end who is really the one combatting the pandemic and fully bearing responsibility. He believes that the performance of the 14 counties and cities led by the KMT will not lose to any other local counterparts in terms of performance. This is because the KMT-led counties and cities have a solid pandemic prevention framework, which is based on science and professionalism rather than politics.
