«Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada's Press Release»
Taiwan announces donation of 500,000 surgical masks to support Canada’s fight against COVID-19
OTTAWA, ON (April 28, 2020)
To support Canada’s fight against COVID-19, Taiwan is donating 500,000 surgical masks to Canada. This is consistent with Taiwan’s goal of supporting the global community at a time when cooperation is sorely needed.
According to Ambassador Winston Wen-yi Chen, Representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada, “Taiwan can help and Taiwan is helping. We will win this fight against COVID-19 only by working together.”
Of these masks, 400,000 will be distributed by the Canadian Red Cross to hospitals, frontline medical workers, and indigenous communities. 50,000 will be sent to Ontario, 25,000 to Alberta, and 25,000 to British Columbia, in response to formal requests from the Premiers of these provinces.
Representative Chen explained that this donation of high quality "Made-in-Taiwan" masks is the best way for Taiwan to “extend a helping hand to the frontline medical staff in Canada.”
This is part of the latest wave of donations undertaken by Taiwan. Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu has stressed that these sorts of engagements help “share the Taiwan model with the international community and strengthen existing partnership with the like-minded countries.”
In the wake of the global coronavirus outbreak, Taiwan's efforts to control the disease have drawn international praise. With this success comes the ability and responsibility to stand on the frontline and assist others. “We believe that, having undertaken successful actions to mitigate the coronavirus, we have a lot to share with the international community,” says Minister Wu.
Taiwan is looking forward to further cooperation with Canada, including in terms of vaccine and treatment development, further linking our supply chains, and by working collaboratively on establishing best health practices.
“We hope this donation reinforces the value of cooperation and demonstrates Taiwan’s positive contributions to the international community,” explains Representative Chen.
Despite Taiwan’s success in combatting COVID-19, Taiwan remains excluded from the global health system. To combat pandemics, all parties must be comprehensively involved in international institutions like the World Health Organization.
“If it is indeed WHO’s mission to ensure the highest attainable standard of health for every human being, then WHO needs Taiwan just as Taiwan needs WHO,” argues Dr. Chen Shih-chung, Taiwan’s Minister of Health and Welfare.
As Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen explains, “although Taiwan has been unfairly excluded from the WHO and the UN, we remain willing and able to utilize our strengths across manufacturing, medicine and technology to work with the world.”
“Taiwan is no stranger to hardship, and our resilience stems from our willingness to unite to surmount even the toughest obstacles. This, above all else, is what I hope Taiwan can share with the world: the human capacity to overcome challenges together is limitless. Taiwan can help.”
Epidemic prevention and containment transcend national borders; countries cannot fight COVID-19 alone. A strong defense against the disease can only be built upon close mutual assistance for mutual benefit. As the international community endeavors to strengthen mechanisms to combat COVID-19, Taiwan stands ready and is willing to cooperate.
Taiwan will continue to take substantive actions to demonstrate the compassion and determination of its government and people, and reaffirm its sincere commitment to working with the international community to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information on this donation and Taiwan’s approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, media are invited to contact:
Simon Sung
Executive Director of Information
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada
613-266-2212
