Taiwan

(Reuters) --- Taiwan will be a “force for good” and continue to seek even greater international support, the presidential office said, after the Chinese-claimed island won unprecedented backing from the Group of Seven of major democracies.

The G7 leaders on Sunday scolded China over human rights in Xinjiang, called for Hong Kong to keep a high degree of autonomy and underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — If China is to meet its tentative goal of vaccinating 80% of its population against the coronavirus by the end of the year, tens of millions of children may have to start rolling up their sleeves.

Regulators took the first step last week by approving the use of the country’s Sinovac vaccine for children aged 3 to 17, though no announcement has been made about when the shots will start.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The U.S. will give Taiwan 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, part of President Joe Biden’s move to share tens of millions of jabs globally, three American senators said Sunday, after the self-ruled island complained that China is hindering its efforts to secure vaccines as it battles an outbreak.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s foreign minister on Thursday said China is seeking political gains abroad in return for providing vaccines and other pandemic assistance, partly to increase pressure on Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory.

Beijing’s Communist Party leaders “further exploited the pandemic to impose their political agenda on many others,” Joseph Wu said in a video conference with the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A large cargo ship hit a tall overhead crane in a Taiwanese port on Thursday, sending it smashing into another crane and then into a pile of shipping containers.

One worker at the port was sent to a hospital for a cut on his arm.

The 86,000-ton vessel, which belongs to Orient Overseas (International) Ltd., a Hong Kong shipping company, was preparing to dock at a port in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan when it hit the crane, the port management company said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — In the span of just five days last month, China gave out 100 million shots of its COVID-19 vaccines.

After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace. The rollout is far from perfect, including uneven distribution, but Chinese public health leaders now say they’re hoping to inoculate 80% of the population of 1.4 billion by the end of the year.

(Reuters) --- Germany's BioNTech asked Taiwan to remove the word "country" from theirplanned joint announcement on a COVID-19 vaccine sale to the island, its health minister said, as he outlined the collapse of the deal which Taipei blames on China.

Taiwan and China are engaged in an escalating war of words after Beijing separately offered shots to the Chinese-claimed island via Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd (600196.SS), which has a contract to sell them in Greater China.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Facing Taiwan’s largest outbreak of the pandemic and looking for rapid virus test kits, the mayor of the island’s capital did what anyone might do: He Googled it.

“If you don’t know, and you try to know something, please check Google,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je quipped.

(Reuters) --- A surge in domestic COVID-19 cases in Taiwan after months of relative safety is intensifying pressure on the government to accept vaccines from China, as the island has vaccinated just 1% of the population with no immediate sign of new shots arriving.

The Chinese-claimed island and Beijing have repeatedly sparred over the pandemic since it began.

(Reuters) --- Taiwan reported another rise in domestic COVID-19 cases on Saturday, but the health minister said the trend remained stable with new infections concentrated in the northern part of the island in and around Taipei.

After months of keeping the pandemic under control, Taiwan is dealing with a surge in domestic infections, and the whole island is under a heightened state of alert with people asked to stay at home and many venues shut.