TAIWAN BLAMES ‘EXTERNAL FORCES’ FOR BOTCHED VACCINE DEAL

The Chinese government has denied it obstructed Taiwan's COVID-19 vaccine purchase from BioNTech after the island's health minister revealed that its deal with the German drugmaker fell through at the last minute due to possible "political pressure," Nectar Gan reported for CNN.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Thursday it was "purely fabrication" that Beijing had intervened in BioNTech's vaccine sale to Taiwan, state news agency Xinhua reported.

A day earlier, Taiwanese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said in a radio interview that Taiwan and BioNTech were about to sign a deal for 5 million vaccine doses in December, when the company suddenly backed out.

"In the process of (discussing the deal) I had always worried that there would be external forces intervening," Chen said, without naming any country. "We believe there was political pressure," he said. "Back then we had already prepared our press release. But certain people don't want Taiwan to be too happy."

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