The United States gave extra 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan, increasing the total number of doses to 4 million donated to the self-ruled island, which is under increasing pressure from China. “Our vaccines do not come with any strings attached and were not donated to do favours or extract concessions,” the Biden government official said.

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The United States had given 2.5 million doses to Afghanistan claimed by China in June, making it among the first international recipients of US vaccines. At that time, US had officials said that China was trying to block vaccine purchases by Taiwan for political reasons. Japan, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Lithuania have also donated Covid-19 vaccines to Taiwan. About 70 per cent of Afghans have got at least one dose and only about 30 per cent of the country’s people are fully-vaccinated.