A recent report by the Legislative Yuan’s Legislative Research Bureau pointed out that it is extremely unreasonable to require Taiwan to purchase vaccines through Chinese companies that have been awarded exclusive distribution rights. Such distribution arrangements violate Taiwan’s rights to access medicine, in particular as Chinese companies in the past five years have secured exclusive distribution rights of 29 percent of new drugs being marketed in Taiwan. The report said that the government must be aware of potential ramifications and raise the issue with the international community and multinational pharmaceutical companies.

The report said that the awarding of exclusive rights to distribute drugs and vaccines in select markets in and of itself raises concerns about human rights and ethics, in particular where the home country of the awardee has adversarial relations with other countries. Under such arrangements, it is possible that countries listed in drug distribution arrangements may not be able to meet contractual obligations due to mistrust and antagonism with an adversarial state, while procurement bids are likely to be hindered a high level of politicization.

The report also emphasized that Taiwan, Germany and China are all members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and should abide by the Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures. It also recommends the Ministry of Economic Affairs to bring the issue to the attention of WTO and other international economic and trade summits to seek probable solutions, as well as strive to make fair and timely procurement of vaccines possible for all countries.

[2021-7-28/ Liberty Times]