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From: 

https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20210828002569-260405

https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20210828002361-263301

https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20210828000355-260102

The deaths of four young adults and many cases of adverse reactions occurred within three days after people were vaccinated with Taiwan’s indigenous Medigen vaccines for coronavirus (COVID-19). These incidents adversely affected the vaccination rate of people who had made appointments of vaccinations and opposition parties demanded the suspension of vaccinations of Medigen vaccines. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) refused to suspend the vaccinations but further announced the appointments of the second doses of Medigen vaccines. The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen has wholeheartedly helped the development of Medigen vaccines and definitely will not admit errors and apologize because of several cases of failures. The Medigen vaccine is the first one in the world that obtained emergency use authorization (EUA) through the means of “immune-bridging”. To clear doubts and avoid citizens’ unnecessary loss of life, even if not suspending the vaccinations, at least the cause and effect of the incidents should be investigated by relevant experts.

The vaccinations of AstraZeneca vaccines and Moderna vaccines had also resulted in sudden deaths in Taiwan before; there were more than 500 deaths after people received AstraZeneca vaccines. But the case of Medigen vaccines is different. First, both the AstraZeneca vaccines and the Moderna vaccines have gone through complete phases of experiments and were certified by the World Health Organization and many countries. The AstraZeneca vaccines are inexpensive and have been used on more than one billion people in over 172 countries. Second, the reason of high death rate of  AstraZeneca vaccinations in Taiwan was because people who received  AstraZeneca

doses were very old seniors and their health conditions were more fragile. On the other hand, people who received Medigen vaccines were young adults, so the cases are not the same.

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Vice President Kamala Harris of the United States concluded her visit to Singapore and Vietnam on August 26. Taiwan and Japan’s ruling parties, the Democratic Progressive Party and the Liberal Democratic Party held a "two plus two" video conference on August 27. The two seemingly unrelated activities actually have one thing in common.

Vice President Harris declared that the purpose of this trip was to state the U.S. vision for the Indo-Pacific region. In reality, the real goal of the United States is to unite its Asian allies to go against the power of the Chinese Communist Party. The Taiwan-Japan video conference, on the surface, is strengthening the relationship between Taiwan and Japan, but it is actually an attempt to jointly counter China.

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The withdrawal of United States troops culminated in the abrupt collapse of Afghanistan’s government and the return of the Taliban, prompting a debate within Taiwan about the credibility of American commitments. On August 16, President Joe Biden defended his decision in a televised national speech, stressing that U.S. troops cannot and should not be fighting and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. From our perspective, the statement is especially applicable to Taiwan as well.

The international community is rightly concerned about the chaos after the fall of Afghanistan, especially fears that the United States may not support its allies and partners unconditionally or infinitely. Analyses like this represent the deep-seated worries of the Taiwanese people about the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen and its lopsided “pro-American, anti-China” stance.

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