Despite Overwhelming Pandemic, DPP Supporters Still Dividing the Spoils
United Daily News Editorial, May 7, 2022
The number of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases surged past 36,000 a day, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) predicted that the daily caseload would reach 100,000 by May 11, making people across Taiwan get themselves into a panic. At the same time, it was widely reported that supporters of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) grabbed the import market share of the rapid test kits while they are in short supply. In one case, Golden Global Biomedicine was a "snack bar turned biomedical company" which had reportedly taken a NT$1.6 billion (about US$53.8 million) order with a capital of only NT$2 million (about US$67,300). Golden Global announced that it “revoked the contract” immediately after the debt record of the person in charge was made public, and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, even cried foul for it, claiming that it was unfair to the "reliable enterprise". Minister Chen's yardstick for "reliability" was intriguing.
In this wave of rapid test kits imports, it was again and again reported that the MOHW had made no disguise of licensing several pro-DPP companies to import the said test kits. In contrast, former Minister of Health Yang Chih-liang, who had long applied for a “donation” of 10 million rapid test kits, was repeatedly blocked by the MOHW. Its excuse was the said kits required to be certified by the United States, Canada and Australia, while the European Union (EU) certification was not included. It was strange that the MOHW was loyal to the brand of any rapid test kits created by the United States, Canada and Australia. But in the Ministry’s eyes, is the EU a backward region? Isn't the widely jabbed BioNTech vaccine was developed by a German company?
The reason that the MOHW rejected Yang’s proposed donation of mainland China-made rapid test kits was seemingly "anti-China." But the latent reason was that, on one hand, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) would highlight the snail’s pace of test kits’ supply by the DPP administration, and on the other, if it is approved, the donation will have a corner on the particular market, leaving less room for "pro-DPP friends" to maneuver. Therefore, despite the raging pandemic on Taiwan, the MOHW would rather delay Yang’s application for import by "requesting him to furnish additional information" than allow the 10 million test kits to enter Taiwan. The same delaying tactics was initially employed by the MOHW last year when it sought to block the donation of BioNTech vaccine by Terry Gou, the founder of Foxconn, and the MOHW has turned out more experienced, sophisticated and reckless as a result.
Of course, many of the people who had watched Minister Chen's two years of tumultuous performance also became more knowledgeable and smarter. Last week, the MOHW approved the application for the first saliva screening test for Omicron submitted by Schweitzer Biotech Company. Coincidentally, the principal of SBC is the same person in charge of Medigen Vaccine Biologics, a pro-DPP Taiwanese vaccine maker and they are even located in the same building. In response to the serious criticism of being "very lucrative" for the two companies, Chen responded, "What does it matter?”
How does Minister Chen explain the legendary transformation of a snack bar into a biotech company, which took a NT$1.6 billion rapid test kits order with a capital of NT$2 million? While following the Goliath principle, the head of Golden Global, Liu Weizhe, used to run a snack bar in a food court without previous professional background in medicine. In August last year, Golden was included in the MOHW's list of approved importers of medical equipment. In the past two days, despite absence of sale performance, Golden was awarded a NT$1.6 billion order to import 17 million rapid test kits. Such an inspirational story was unimaginable. When the legal records of Liu’s previous short-selling debts had been revealed, Gordon immediately gave up the order overnight. Is this because of grievances, or because of a guilty conscience?
When the media had nailed Golden Global's lie to the counter, Minister Chen did not reflect on himself at all, instead he accused the opposition party of "political interference in business". At a time when the pandemic in Taiwan was overwhelming, Chen was standing in the way of Yang’s proposed donations on one hand, and on the other, he even covered up such an evil company as Golden for winning big orders. Where did Chen put his mind?