Possibilities In Taiwan’s International Negotiations For COVID19 Vaccines

This is a translation of the original 製造僵局，開創有利台灣的談判空間 by Chien Li-yi (簡立易), a columnist. Originally published by Voice Tank. Translation by Jessica Wu.

According to media reports, China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Company has already announced that it is in contact with the Taiwan Semiconductor Company (TSMC) and Foxconn’s Yonglin Foundation to sell a total of ten million doses of BioNTech vaccines for COVID19.

Regardless of how the media may view this round of vaccine purchases, the Tsai Administration should learn from this experience in order to improve future endeavors in the procurement of vaccines.

Looking at all the points of view surrounding the current vaccine purchase drama, commentators mostly think that Taiwan just cannot get around the fact that Shanghai Fosun is the legal distributor of BioNTech vaccines in the Greater China area and therefore must deal with Shanghai Fosun. With Shanghai Fosun controlled by the Chinese government and cannot recognize the sovereignty of the Taiwanese government, the Taiwanese government is caught in a deadlock of choosing between giving up vaccines or political capitulation.

A deadlock, however, can also be an opportunity. Dr. Liu Bi-rong’s 1989 book Negotiations points out: “A deadlock in a negotiation is something that no side can tolerate nor can single-handedly resolve on their own, so much so that all sides realize negotiating with one another is the only way out.” In other words, there must exist a situation where “one is unable to resolve on his or her own,” so that the possibility of negotiations can happen.

Taiwan must recognize that COVID19 is becoming a normal part of life in most countries around the world, and as populations increase and global business and travel revive, the stockpiling of vaccines and other vital medical resources will also become the norm. It is unreasonable to expect the current model of relying on corporations and religious organizations to procure vital resources and then donate them to the government. Therefore, how does the government secures vital resources on a regular basis is a crucial challenge.

The fact that Shanghai Fosun had acted ambivalently and without transparency, as well as continue with intentional gestures like calling Taiwan a “region” in its press releases, should motivate Taiwan to seriously consider working with Pfizer and BioNTech directly again in the future.

As for the common understanding that Shanghai Fosun has the contractual distribution rights of BioNTech products in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, we as Taiwan need to create a kind of stalemate to bring the US and Germany to the table. We need the US and Germany to see that Taiwan’s deadlock is also a deadlock for the US and Germany that cannot be solved unless they work together with Taiwan.

On June 2, the German Institute in Taiwan released a statement that read, “The government does not control whether a contract is signed or what the contract contains; instead they are in the hands of the contractual parties” (referring to whether BioNTech signs a sales contract with the Taiwanese government). Taiwan can also put out this statement: “The priority queue for providing semiconductor chips necessary for vehicles is not under the government’s control, but rather determined by supply chain contracts” (referring to the German government’s request for Taiwan to provide more semiconductor chips to German automakers). This links an issue that is intolerable for Taiwan to another issue intolerable for Germany and forces Germany to negotiate.

The “creation of deadlocks” is a means, not an end. Its purpose is to incentivize the German government to enter negotiations with Taiwan. But once that happens, how can Taiwan and Germany work around the issue of the vaccine distributor contract?

“The National Palace Museum Model”

When the National Palace Museum loans its collection of ancient artifacts for exhibitions abroad, the receiving countries will always exempt the artifacts from being withheld or seized during the loan period. This is done to ensure the safety of the artifacts; but more importantly, these exemptions are given regardless of the receiving countries’ policy regarding Taiwan’s sovereignty or legal status.

In the vaccine negotiations, Taiwan can use a similar model. Germany may be able to put in place a special regulation that exempts BioNTech’s contractual relationship with Shanghai Fosun, in a way that does not affect Germany’s recognition of Taiwan. This exemption can then allow BioNTech or Pfizer to sell vaccines to Taiwan directly. Regardless of what contracts BioNTech and Shanghai Fosun have in place, Shanghai Fosun cannot intervene or prevent BioNTech from following German law. This can prevent the Chinese government from using Shanghai Fosun to interrupt Taiwan’s vaccine supply; nor does it create new problems that challenge Germany’s stance towards the Taiwan Strait.

Similarly, given the warm relations Taiwan enjoys with the US at the moment, Taiwan can ask the US to pass a similar bill to allow Pfizer to sign a special contract with Taiwan directly, which will bypass the need to go through Shanghai Fosun. Given that relying on donations from private enterprises for vaccines is unsustainable in the long run, maybe the quasi-government dialogue model of the Straits Exchange Foundation is another path worth considering.

International negotiations involve constant change, and we must create possibilities in an abyss of impossibilities. The United States, Japan, and Lithuania can bypass the COVAX supply chain system and directly donate vaccines to Taiwan; this means that despite having a system in place, there are other options. President Tsai Ing-wen has abundant experience in international negotiations; once she’s at the negotiation table, there will be creative solutions.

What Taiwan should do now is to place vaccine supply as a serious national strategic objective, and focus all of its energy on supporting domestic Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corporation​ and United Biomedical, Inc’s vaccine development. After COVID19 became a new global normal, we must think about how to create new negotiation models to bring Germany, the US, and any other potential partners in preventing the next pandemic to the table to secure the supply of vaccines without giving up our national sovereignty, so that we can protect the safety and livelihoods of the Taiwanese people.

(Feature photo by CDC on Unsplash)