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Scene at a hospital in Taoyuan, Taiwan: Help with "obtaining vaccine in a feasible range"?
Photo: Daniel Tsang / imago images / ZUMA Wire
The German car companies have been suffering from a lack of chips for weeks.
That is why Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) asked Taiwan for support in helping with the current chip shortage in the car industry.
Help may be given to the German auto industry, in which thousands of employees have to go on short-time work again due to the lack of important parts, but only in exchange for support in the procurement of corona vaccines.
According to a report, the Taiwan government has asked Germany for help in supplying the goods, which are also rare in this country.
Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua said, according to Reuters news agency, she submitted the vaccine request at a meeting with the German diplomatic representative in Taipei, who in turn presented her with the letter asking for help with the chip problem.
She said that she hoped Germany could support Taiwan in "obtaining vaccine in a feasible range."
What exactly that means is unclear.
The Federal Ministry of Economics has not yet commented on this.
"Act of reciprocity"
According to Reuters, Altmaier had previously asked in a letter to convince Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) to alleviate the chip shortage.
The company is the world's largest contract chip manufacturer and one of Germany's main suppliers.
Because many chip manufacturers switched to popular consumer electronics at the beginning of the corona crisis, the German car manufacturers are now missing the parts in the car business, which has recently been improving again.
Wang met with chip industry executives this week who pledged to help solve the problem.
This help should probably not be given selflessly.
According to "Taiwan News", the head of the Taiwanese economic research institute TIER, Gordon Sun, spoke to the news agency CNA about a significant opportunity for an exchange deal.
The chips could be made into a commodity that could be used to obtain vaccines.
He spoke of an "act of reciprocity".
According to the report, the Taiwan Disease Control Agency also welcomed all efforts to increase vaccine, including trade in TSMC semiconductors.
Taiwan has ordered nearly 20 million doses of corona vaccine, including ten million from AstraZeneca, with the first expected to arrive in March.
Thanks to early containment, Taiwan has only registered 896 corona cases, including seven deaths, in the pandemic.
Most of the infections were brought in from abroad, 79 people are currently in hospital.
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