https://time.com/6083748/taiwan-vaccines-terry-gou-foxconn/
Will Foxconn Billionaire Terry Gou’s COVID-19 Vaccine Deal Bring
Taiwan Closer to China?
富士康富豪郭台銘的新冠疫苗交易會讓台灣更傾中嗎？
作者：Natalie Tso/台北
2021 年 7 月 26 日
For 18 months, Taiwan was a model of COVID-19 prevention and
President Tsai Ing-wen reaped the political benefits. Her approval rating
surged to a record 73% in May 2020. Then, a year later, the island’s first
major outbreak hit and it became clear that its COVID-19 defense was
lacking one major component: vaccines.
過去 18 個月以來，台灣是預防 COVID-19 的典範，而蔡英文總統
因此收割了其中帶來的政治利益。她的支持度在 2020 年 5 月飆升
至創紀錄的 73%。然而在一年後，該島首次爆發大規模疫情，顯然
其 COVID-19 防禦缺乏一主要組成元素：疫苗。
As infections surged this May, Taiwan had just over 300,000 COVID-19
vaccines for its 23.5 million people. The government had ordered 20
million doses from overseas, but supplies were just trickling in.
隨著今年 5 月感染人數激增，台灣 2350 萬人口僅擁有 30 萬多劑
COVID-19 疫苗。政府已從海外訂購了 2000 萬劑疫苗，但供應量卻
如滴水涓涓流入。
Tsai, who has forged a close relationship with the U.S. and favors a more
distant approach to China, blamed the shortage on interference from Beijing
after a deal to buy vaccines directly from Germany manufacturer BioNTech
fell apart in January. But finger-pointing didn’t stop her popularity from
plunging as many Taiwanese people agonized over the lack of jabs. A poll
in June showed her approval rating had dropped to just 43%.
已與美國建立了密切關係並對中國採取更疏遠態度的蔡英文，在 1
月份直接從德國製造商 BNT 購買疫苗的交易告吹後，將疫苗短缺
歸咎於北京的干預。但這項指責並沒有阻止她的人氣暴跌，因為許
多台灣人受苦於缺乏疫苗注射。6 月份的一項民意調查顯示，她的
支持度下降到只剩 43%。
It’s against this backdrop that 70-year-old billionaire Terry Gou became
Taiwan’s vaccine hero. Gou, whose company Foxconn is Apple’s
largest supplier, spearheaded a series of deals this month with Chinese
state-owned Fosun Pharma—a pharmaceutical giant that holds the
distribution rights for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for China, including
Taiwan. (Pfizer is the agent for the rest of the world.) The deals will bring
15 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Taiwan, with the first
batches expected to arrive in September.
正是在這此事件背景下，70 歲的富豪郭台銘成為了台灣的疫苗英
雄。郭台銘的公司富士康是蘋果最大供應商，他在這個月引領了與
中國國有企業復星醫藥進行一連串交易的動作。復星醫藥是一家擁
有包含台灣在內的中國之輝瑞-BNT 疫苗經銷權的製藥巨頭 (輝瑞
本身是世界其他地區的經銷。) 這些交易將為台灣帶來 1500 萬劑輝
瑞-BNT 疫苗，第一批預計將於 9 月抵達台灣。
“Our government was too complacent with buying vaccines because we
hardly had an outbreak,” Taipei resident Akane Lee says. “Gou’s
vaccine purchase is like sending rain in a drought.”
台北居民 Akane Lee 表示，「因為我們幾乎沒有爆發過疫情，政府
購買疫苗的過程太過自滿，郭台銘購買到疫苗就像久旱逢甘霖。」
Gou enjoys close ties to Beijing and ran unsuccessfully in Taiwan’s 2019
presidential primary election for the opposition Kuomintang (KMT). His
platform argued for the cultivation of a stronger relationship between the
democratic self-ruled island and Mainland China, which views Taiwan as a
breakaway province that must be brought back under its control—by force
if necessary.
郭台銘享有與北京的密切關係，並在反對黨國民黨 (KMT) 2019年
的台灣總統初選中落敗。他的政綱主張在民主自治的該島與中國大
陸之間建立更牢固的關係。然而中國大陸將台灣視為必須重新取得
控制的分裂省份──必要時會透過武力。
That the deal came via a businessman with billions of dollars in business
interests in the mainland, and months after Tsai’s government failed to
buy the same vaccines, indicates that Beijing put its finger on the scale,
political observers say.
政治觀察者表示，這筆交易是透過一位在大陸擁有數十億美元商業
利益的商人達成，而在蔡政府未能購買相同疫苗數月後，這代表北
京左右了其中局勢。
“I think [the Chinese government] encouraged Fosun Pharma to make
concessions so the vaccines could be shipped directly from Germany,”
says political scientist Spencer Yang of Taiwan’s Chinese Culture
University. “The Beijing government might want to use this deal to
humiliate the Tsai government.”
台灣中國文化大學的政治學者Spencer Yang (譯註：有人知道是誰嗎
? )表示：「我認為 (中國政府) 鼓勵復星醫藥做出讓步，讓疫苗可
以直接從德國出貨。北京政府可能想利用這筆交易來羞辱蔡英文政
府。」
But the vaccine deal was fraught with political obstacles from the
beginning. In May, when a COVID-19 outbreak started by cargo pilots
spiraled into hundreds of daily cases and island-wide restrictions, Gou
volunteered to buy five million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for
Taiwan—but the government took nearly a month to allow him to begin the
process.
但疫苗交易從一開始就充滿政治障礙。5 月當由貨機駕駛引發的
COVID-19 爆發加劇為每天數百例和全島移動限制時，郭台銘主動
建議為台灣購買 500 萬劑輝瑞-BNT 疫苗──但台灣政府花了將近
一個月的時間才允許他開始這個過程。
Why would Tsai hesitate to let a local billionaire foot the bill for its most
desired import? “If Gou hadn’t run for president two years ago, it
wouldn’t have been a problem,” says political scientist Arthur Ding of
National Chengchi University. “But Gou gave the Tsai administration
tremendous pressure. Tsai had to give in.”
為什麼蔡英文會顧慮讓一位當地富豪為其最想要的進口物買單？「
如果郭台銘兩年前未競選總統，這次就不會有問題，」國立政治大
學政治學者丁樹範表示，「但後來郭台銘給予蔡政府重大壓力。蔡
不得不讓步。」
When the Tsai government granted permission for Gou to purchase
vaccines, it also gave the go-ahead to Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—the world-leading microchip maker,
which has closer ties to the government—to pursue a vaccine deal. TIME
asked the Health Ministry to comment on the recent vaccine deals, but it
declined.
蔡政府在核准郭台銘購買疫苗的同時，也同意了與政府關係密切的
全球領先微晶片製造商台積電 (TSMC) 進行疫苗交易。時代曾要求
衛福部對最近幾起的疫苗交易發表評論，但衛福部拒絕評論。
On July 12, Gou’s Foxconn and TSCM announced a $350 million deal for
five million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines each with Fosun Pharma. The
following week, the Tzu Chi Foundation, Taiwan’s largest charity,
followed with a deal for another five million doses. The KMT has also
offered to buy five million more, but Tsai has closed that door, saying no
more doses were needed.
7月 12 日，郭台銘旗下的富士康和TSCM宣布與復星醫藥分別以3.5
億美元的價格購買輝瑞-BNT疫苗。之後一周，台灣最大的慈善機
構慈濟基金會也以500萬劑的交易跟進。國民黨還提出再購買 500
萬，但蔡已關閉了這扇門，稱不需要更多劑量。
Gou, who declined to speak to TIME for this story, said on social media
that the deal went through without influence from Beijing: “The mainland
did not meddle or interfere in the vaccine procurement process,” he posted
on Facebook.
郭台銘拒絕就此事與時代周刊發言，他在社交媒體上表示，這筆交
易的進行不受北京的影響。他在 Facebook 上發文：「大陸沒有擾
亂或干預疫苗採購過程。」
Beijing’s Global Times quoted a mainland official as saying, “The
signing of the vaccine purchase deal proved that previous rumors of the
mainland preventing the island of Taiwan from accessing vaccines are
unfounded.”
北京的《環球時報》引述大陸官員的話稱，「此次疫苗採購交易的
簽署，證明在此之前大陸阻止台灣取得疫苗的傳言毫無根據。」
The private purchase of vaccines has highlighted recent public discontent
with Tsai and her party. When Tsai announced on her Facebook page that
the deal resulted from “the hard work of the government and private
sector,” most people left scathing comments. “Has our government
fallen asleep? They can’t even buy vaccines. They need to use the private
sector to do so,” one user said.
民間購買疫苗凸顯了近期民眾對蔡及其政黨的不滿。當蔡在其臉書
頁面上宣布這筆交易是「政府和民間努力」的結果時，大多數人留
下了嚴厲的評論。一位使用者表示：「我們的政府睡著了？他們甚
至無法買疫苗，需要透過民間來買。」
The Global Times, too, was quick to criticize Tsai’s “self-aggrandizing
attitude,” while highlighting that it was not her government that
completed the vaccine deal.
《環球時報》也迅速批評蔡英文「自我誇耀的態度」，同時強調完
成疫苗交易的不是她的政府。
Meanwhile, people have flooded Gou’s Facebook page with expressions
of gratitude: “Thank you CEO Gou!” said one user. “Your initiative
and goodwill led to TSMC and Tzu Chi following suit, and the saving of
15 million lives in Taiwan.”
與此同時，人們紛紛湧入郭台銘的臉書頁面，表達感激之情：「感
謝郭執行長！」一名使用者表示，「您的主動和善意讓台積電和慈
濟紛紛效仿，拯救了台灣1500萬人的生命。」
Deal undercuts Taiwan’s other vaccine sources
外購交易降低台灣其他疫苗來源的重要性
Part of the reason for Taiwan’s vaccine shortage was that Tsai’s
government banked on producing its own vaccines, and said at least one of
two jabs under development would be available by July. “Tsai promoting
them so eagerly and so early definitely hurt her popularity,” says Ding.
台灣疫苗短缺的部分原因是蔡政府指望生產自己的疫苗，並表示正
在開發的兩種疫苗中的至少一種將在 7 月前上市。丁表示：「蔡這
麼早就熱切推廣國產疫苗，絕對傷害了她的聲望。」
Taiwan’s drug regulator authorized the use of the first domestic
COVID-19 vaccine, from Medigen Vaccine Biologics, on July 19.
However, instead of using large-scale Phase III trials to test its efficacy,
regulators accepted “immuno-bridging” studies that measured antibody
response levels in people who had gotten the Medigen shots.
台灣藥品監管單位於 7 月 19 日核准使用來自高端 (Medigen) 的國內
首款 COVID-19 疫苗。然而，監管單位並未進行大規模三期試驗來
測試其效價，而是接受了「免疫橋接」研究──此研究測量了接受
高端注射的人的抗體反應水平。
Officials say Taiwan is the first place to use such methods in regulatory
authorization, but the methodology has proved somewhat controversial.
Only 20% of people said they were willing to get jabbed with Taiwanese
vaccines in a recent My Formosa survey, and 82% said the vaccines should
go through Phase III trials before getting approved.
官員表示台灣是第一個在監管授權下使用這種方法的地方，但這種
方法已證明有所爭議。在最近的《美麗島電子報》民調中，只有
20%的人表示願意接種台灣疫苗，而 82% 受訪者表示，疫苗在獲得
核准之前應該通過三期試驗。
Luckily for Tsai, six million vaccine doses began arriving from the U.S.
and Japan in June, allowing Taiwan to start its mass inoculation campaign.
Currently, more than 24% of Taiwanese people have received one dose. “
When people in Taiwan were desperate for vaccines, the donations by the
U.S. and Japan really bailed Tsai out,” Ding says.
對蔡而言慶幸的是，6月有600萬劑疫苗從美國和日本開始運抵台灣
，讓台灣開始大規模接種。目前，超過24%的台灣人接種了一劑。
丁表示：「當台灣人迫切需要疫苗的同時，美國和日本的捐贈確實
拯救了蔡的困境。」
For Gou, this could be a political beginning
對郭台銘而言，這可能是政治生涯開端
The Gou-led purchase of 15 million doses from BioNTech—enough to
vaccinate nearly one-third of the island’s population—means that Taiwan
will now have much less need for either additional donations from allies or
its own domestically developed vaccines. But the deal has sparked some
skepticism in Taiwan.
郭台銘領導從 BNT 購買 1500 萬劑疫苗──足以為該島近三分之一
的人口接種疫苗──意味著台灣現在對來自盟友的額外捐贈或本國
開發的疫苗的需求將大大減少。但此交易在台灣引起了一些懷疑。
“It’s fine for Gou to buy vaccines but he didn’t have to buy BioNTech,
” says Vivian Yu, a legal counsel who specializes in cross-Strait
commercial ties. “There’s always a political risk of going through
Shanghai’s Fosun Pharma.”
專門研究兩岸商業關係的法律顧問Vivian Yu表示：「郭台銘買疫苗
沒問題，但他不一定要買BNT。」「透過上海復星醫藥總有政治風
險。」
Tensions with Beijing have been at their highest in years. Taiwan sees
Chinese warplanes fly into the island’s Air Defense Identification Zone
(ADIZ) on a regular basis, with a record high of 28 warplanes encroaching
on one day in June.
與北京的緊張關係達到了多年來的最高水平。台灣近來經常見到中
國戰機飛入該島的防空識別區 (ADIZ)，6月份中的一天曾有28架戰
機侵入台灣領空，創下歷史記錄。
Has Beijing earned new loyalty during Taiwan’s vaccine woes? Ding
believes China gained ground—but to a larger extent, Tsai and her
pro-West Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost it. A Taiwanese Public
Opinion Foundation poll released in July indicates that in the past three
months, Tsai’s ruling DPP lost 15% of its supporters.
北京是否在台灣疫苗危機期間贏得了台灣人民的新認同度？丁認為
中國的確有所進展──但蔡英文和她的親西方民進黨 (DPP) 在更大
程度上失去認同度。台灣民意基金會於 7 月發佈的民意調查顯示，
在過去三個月，蔡英文執政的民進黨失去了15%的支持者。
However, the defectors haven’t switched to the more China-friendly
KMT. Most people, 48%, are non-partisan and some now support smaller
parties, like the new Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) led by Taipei Mayor
Ko Wen-je, who takes a more pragmatic tone with Beijing than Tsai. After
losing the presidential primary for the KMT, Gou called for supporting
candidates from the TPP and other small parties in the 2020 election.
然而，轉向者並沒有轉向對中國更友善的國民黨。大多數人 (48%)
為中立選民，有些人現在支持較小的政黨，比如台北市長柯文哲領
導的新台灣民眾黨 (TPP)──柯對北京採取了比蔡更為務實的基調。
在國民黨總統初選失利後，郭台銘在2020年大選中呼籲支持 TPP 和
其他小黨派的候選人。
Gou has earned a place in Taiwanese hearts for his determination to
provide Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, a brand that has topped local surveys of
the jabs people favor. There is also no doubting his philanthropic
credentials. He donated over $635 million to build a state-of-the-art cancer
research and treatment center in memory of his first wife and brother, who
both died of cancer. When he remarried in 2008, he and his new wife
pledged to give 90% of his $6 billion fortune to charity.
郭台銘憑藉供應輝瑞-BNT疫苗的決心，在台灣人心目中贏得了一
席之地──此疫苗品牌在當地民眾的偏好調查中名列第一。他的慈
善行徑之資歷也毋庸置疑。他捐贈了超過 6.35 億美元，成立了一
尖端科技的癌症研究暨治療中心，以紀念因癌症去世的第一任妻子
和弟弟。2008 年再婚時，他和新婚妻子承諾捐出他的60億美元財富
中的90%，以用於慈善事業。
Will such generosity translate into enough support for another presidential run?
這次慷慨行徑是否會轉化為對另一次總統競選的足夠支持力？
“The next presidential election is three years from now, so it’s far too
early to call,” says Lev Nachman, postdoctoral fellow at Harvard
University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. “But I don’t think
he will quietly bow out from politics. His public involvement in securing
vaccines, his general presence in the KMT and TPP, show future political
ambitions from Terry Gou.”
哈佛大學費正清中國研究中心的博士後研究員列夫·納赫曼 (譯註：
上次說「不買任何疫苗，對DPP最有利」) 表示：「下屆總統選舉
是三年後舉行，所以現在下定論還為時過早。但我認為他不會悄悄
退出政壇。」他公開參與取得疫苗，他在國民黨和 TPP 中的普遍
存在感，顯現了郭台銘未來的政治雄心。」
And while Beijing’s earlier vaccine overtures to Taiwan were rejected, by
staying out of the BioNTech vaccine deal with Fosun (at least publicly), it
may have achieved some political aims in Taiwan. “To some extent,
China has won points,” says Yang at Chinese Culture University, “but
Chinese planes remind us that Beijing is still hostile towards Taiwan.”
雖然北京更早之前向台灣提出的疫苗提議被拒絕，但不插手與復星
的 BNT 疫苗交易 (至少以公開的觀點)，北京可能在台灣實現了一
些政治目標。中國文化大學的Yang表示：「但中國飛機提醒我們，
北京仍然對台灣懷有敵意。」