COVID-19: Japan to send additonal 5,00,000 Astra Zeneca vaccine to Taiwan

Japan has announced it will send an additional 5,00,000 Astra Zeneca's COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan.

With this, Tokyo's vaccine donation to the self-ruled island has reached 3.9 million, Nikkei Asia reported.

This was announced by Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

To date, Japan has given out more than 23 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Japan to countries in South Asia and the Pacific islands, Motegi said.

Taiwan has thanked Japan for arranging its fifth coronavirus vaccine donation.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) expressed sincere gratitude once again to Japan for its constant assistance to Taiwan in combating the COVID-19 epidemic.

"In the face of serious threats and challenges, both Taiwan and Japan have shown a strong and invaluable friendship by extending a helping hand to each other," MOFA wrote in a statement.

The donations come as Japan and Taiwan are strengthening ties, while tensions with Beijing are escalating

Early this year, China has accused Taiwan's governing party of preventing the mainland from sending vaccines to Taiwan and falsely claiming that China has hindered its procurement of vaccines

China had also lambasted Japan for having donated a COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan, labelling such a move as a "political performance".

Last month, Japan and Taiwan held first-ever security talks which were opposed by China

China has lodged a strong opposition to the security talks between the ruling parties of Japan and Taiwan and urged Tokyo to stop interfering in China's internal affairs.

( With inputs from ANI )