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 Taiwan is trying to speed up the arrival of the millions of vaccines
it has on order as it deals with a rise in domestic cases, although
infections remain comparatively low. Only around 6% of Taiwan's 23.5
million people have received at least one of the two-shot
coronavirus vaccine regimen.
The government has come under pressure to allow private firms to buy
vaccines, and said while it welcomes the idea and is willing to
help, they have to provide proof from vaccine producers they have
shots and are willing to sell them.
Speaking to reporters after Gou said he was seeking a meeting with
President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss his plans to buy 5 million shots
from Germany's BioNTech SE, Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng said
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) wanted to donate an
equal amount.
Lo said BioNTech had told Gou, who wants to make the purchase
through his Yonglin Education Foundation, on Wednesday they will
only sell vaccines to governments.
"A good method is for the government to, under this framework,
authorise TSMC and the Yonglin Education Foundation to buy them and
then donate to the government," he said.
He said the government was, with the help of the German government,
continuing its own talks with BioNTech, adding there was no
guarantee Gou or anyone else would succeed.
"Even if Mr. Gou can discuss this with the original manufacturer or
an agent, can he get them to sell sufficient vaccines? Honestly,
nobody knows."
Earlier on Friday, Gou said he wanted to meet Tsai to discuss the
proposal and that he had "absolutely no political or commercial
intentions in this matter".
TSMC said it "confirmed the initiative", but offered no other
details. BioNTech declined to comment.
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 The presidential office said
Tsai would meet Gou and TSMC Chairman Mark Liu
later on Friday to discuss their proposals.
Taiwan's own deal with BioNTech fell through this year, with the
government blaming it on pressure from Beijing.
China has denied the accusation, saying Taiwan is free to obtain the
vaccines through Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd, which
has a contract with BioNTech to sell the vaccines in China, Hong
Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Taiwan has been dealing directly with BioNTech in Germany, saying it
does not trust vaccines from China. Shieh Jhy-wey,
Taiwan's de facto ambassador in Berlin, said that Germany's Economy
Ministry had appointed officials to talk directly with BioNTech,
adding the company had told him they were willing to sell vaccines
to Taiwan directly from Europe.
Gou's spokesperson Amanda Liu told reporters that Gou had held talks
with "all partners" on the vaccine purchase idea, and had proposed
signing a deal with Fosun's Swiss or Hong Kong branches to avoid
political problems.
Japan donated 1.24 million AstraZeneca Plc shots to Taiwan this
month and the United States has pledged 750,000 doses, although it
has not given details, all on top of vaccines Taiwan has already
ordered.
Another 240,000 Moderna Inc doses arrived in Taiwan later on Friday.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan, Christopher Cushing and Alexander Smith)
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