US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI4404

C O N F I D E N T I A L TAIPEI 004404 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/RSP/TC, G, OES/IHA 
STATE FOR AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2010 
TAGS: TBIO, AMED, SENV, CASC, ECON, TW, WHO 
SUBJECT: TAIWAN VACCINE DIPLOMACY OVERRATED 
 
REF: TAIPEI 04295 
 
Classified By: AIT DIRECTOR DOUGLAS PAAL, REASON 1.5 B/D 
 
 1.  (C) As reported in Ref A, on Oct. 17, 2005, Michael Kao, 
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that Taiwan was 
preparing to propose at next month's APEC summit in Busan, 
South Korea to produce and distribute avian flu vaccine to 
APEC countries.  This is part of a series of moves by Taiwan 
to gain visibility and international credibility by assisting 
countries in health-related matters.  This dovetails with 
their attempt to become a member of the World Health 
Organization (WHO) and the World Health Assembly (WHA).  As 
Vice Minister Kao was reported to have said in the Taiwan 
media "China hasn't been able to make any public protest due 
to the scope and severity of the disease...We certainly will 
make good use of this opportunity, which might help Taiwan 
make a breakthrough in international participation." 
 
2  (C) The timing of the announcement suggests that scoring 
political points is at least part of the reason for 
Taiwan's vaccine proposal.  AIT has learned that Taiwan 
currently has no vaccine production capability and is years 
away from having the facilities or technical expertise to 
produce flu vaccines.  AIT ECONOFF spoke with longtime 
contact Hsu Yu-chen, research assistant in the Planning 
Division at Taiwan's Center for Disease Control (CDC).  Hsu 
said that in November 2004, the Executive Yuan committed NT$6 
billion to spearhead an effort to manufacture vaccines in 
Taiwan on a commercial scale.  The plan calls for NT$4billion 
to be spent on a flu vaccine plant in Hsinchu, Taiwan. 
Taiwan expects to gain the technical expertise to manufacture 
vaccines by partnering with a foreign pharmaceutical company. 
 The foreign company will also be expected to invest in the 
plant.  Hsu said "GlaxoSmithKline is a possible partner but 
we are going to have an open bidding process sometime next 
year before we select the foreign partner." 
 
3.  (C) The "Flu Vaccine Self Production Plan" envisions 
Taiwan producing flu vaccines on a commercial scale in four 
to five years.  The first step of the plan is for Taiwan's 
two vaccine labs, one operated by the CDC and another 
operated by the National Health Research Institute, to 
combine into one lab and be relocated to Hsinchu.  Hsu 
estimates that, at the earliest, Taiwan will be ready to 
produce flu vaccines in three to four years. 
PAAL