Taipei ¨C Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Taiwan¡¯s Foxconn, and TSMC reached initial agreements to buy 5 million doses each of BioNTech SE¡¯s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, three sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.
Taiwan¡¯s government has tried for months to buy the shots directly from Germany¡¯s BioNTech and has blamed China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own territory, for nixing a deal the two sides were due to sign earlier this year. China denies the accusations.
Last month, facing public pressure about the slow pace of Taiwan¡¯s inoculation program, the government agreed to allow Gou and TSMC to negotiate on its behalf for the vaccines, which would be donated to Taiwan¡¯s government for distribution.
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