That is horseshit. In Europe, even royalty had to wait their turn. In Taiwan, given the Chinese Confucian hierarchies, why am I not surprised the functionnaires are jumping the queue?
I don’t know why everyone is getting excited over a plane landing with vaccines. Japan donated with much less fanfare. It is great the US is donating, but I sort of prefer good deeds to be done without promotion (sort of like how after the Profumo affair, John Profumo cleaned toilets at Toynbee hall for the rest of his days). The US political class could learn from that. It is a culture that is so much based on Democratic Party (mostly) self promotion.
Speaking of the US political class and nouveau riche Democrats/vulgars, I heard that Ted Kennedy used to arrive in Taiwan in an underwater car (back in the day).
Well, there are always plenty of concern trolls to try and stir up controversy over nothing
Since Taiwan has already given out 600,000+ vaccines total, that’s already covered the whole of groups 1-3 anyway.
Seems to me that they’re doing a pretty amazing job given the circumstances. But unfortunately, with anything in Taiwan, there are so many forces deliberately trying to sow discontent.
Exactly. Many of the “government employees” are absolutely essential.
Hell, even if that does include the politicians and paper pushers, I really don’t have a problem with it. They’re such a small number, they’re hardly depleting the vaccine supply. Do we really want leaders getting sick, missing work, potentially dying etc? That would add a huge amount of chaos. Of course, China would love that, which is why I assume they’re spending so much effort to sow discontent.
No they haven’t, what are you on about ? I know people working for government services that got their vaccination postponed.
You like attacking people yourself but you are also a massive waffler.
Sorry I don’t join in your lala land everything is great which got us into this shit mess in the first place.
They are not doing an ‘amazing job’ they are responsible for the fuck up in vaccination preparation and quarantine policy and lack of rapid testing which was pointed out umpteen times by the amateurs here as a huge gap and finally…It happened.
Now they are doing a competent job in trying to prevent things spinning out of control.
Taiwan has made a complete mess of vaccine procurement and preparing for a second wave. Are there people really debating that? This isnt Ethiopia, its the 19th richest country in the world and right now only 2% of the population have been vaccinated and there is a shortage of vaccines.
I would respect the government a lot more if they said that the situation was a mess and now they are trying to rectify it.
I dont think from a communication standpoint they have done a good job at all. Its been an embarrassment. That charities could go to Johnson & Johnson and approach them for vaccines that they have available now, after the CDC said that none were available. Its a disaster for Tsai. Shitshow
There isnt a lot we can do about it. Most Taiwanese want Terry Gou to import the BNT and at first Tsai seemed resistant as it was a clear loss of face for her. The whole thing is a political mess.
I mean, there’s no reason for him to stop the other islands from testing all visitors, is there? And this is just one of the problems he has created so far…
As I said, it’s up to each of us to make assessments about whether we think this team is upping its game, or not.
Personally I’ve seen enough manoeverings by Terry Guo (you mentioned him, that’s why I’m talking about this) over the years to be circumspect about his new self-appointed role as vaccine savior. Wasn’t he just reportedly balking at the asking price of vaccines (this, from one of the absolute wealthiest men in the world)? Wasn’t he just musing about pivoting to gaining rights to manufacture and sell BioNTech products in the future? As a business mogul, he can manoever to his heart’s content. But I would NEVER count on this guy from a public policy or public health perspective to have my interests in mind. Sorry!
Guo wants to make another Run for president. Tsai doesnt want him to get all the praise. Most Taiwanese just want vaccines and dont give a fuck about politics.
No my point is not irrelevant. Watch Guo’s pivot then (in Wisconsin), watch his pivot now (to try to get the rights to BioNTech). The guy is consistent, and in his own way completely truthful: FOX CONN. Buyer beware!
Foxconn is the biggest company in assembly in the world. All of the biggest companies in the world such as Apple choose to work with Foxconn, because they are the most reliable. If the Wisconsin thing didnt work, I’m not sure how representative it can be to call Foxconn a ripoff company. Big companies wouldnt work with an organisation known for cheating clients
Let’s be clear. All of us here would be delighted to get an extra tranche of vaccines. More mRNA vaccines? Great, let’s bring them on. I think we agree on this, right?
My sole point of disagreement in this exchange is counting on a guy like Guo to be a reliable figure committed to the public good. You think he’s a great businessman, fine, I’m not here to argue with that point. I do think however that there is ample evidence that public wellbeing has not always been at the forefront of his manoeverings. And if you think that Foxconn’s track record inspires confidence in this regard, then good luck to you.
I don’t think it needs to be solely an altruistic act, right? There are selfish reasons that a businessperson, especially one with political aspirations, might want to procure vaccines for the public.
I’ve been thinking… is this the British way to spell maneuverings? I keep reading it as man-overings lol
But to be fair, Guo did donate many face shields and his 永齡基金會 has done many good deeds for Taiwan. I don’t care if he did this to save money, all I care is whether people in need could benefit from that. I also don’t really care about politics. All I care is if my non-American side of the family could get vaccinated in time.
