Deadly political virus of DPP: China Daily editorial

Taiwan is experiencing its worst time in the pandemic, with the number of daily locally transmitted novel coronavirus infections surpassing 100 on average since last month and the daily death rate from COVID-19 higher than the world's average.

Unsurprisingly, rather than getting a grip on the situation, Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party has chosen to take the latest surge in infections as an opportunity to ratchet up confrontation with the Chinese mainland and push its agenda of presenting the impression of the island's de facto independence.

Likewise some politicians in the United States have been using the pandemic as a pretext to interfere in China's internal affairs, and have been colluding with the DPP's provocations. After three US senators, under the pretext of arranging a donation of vaccines, paid a whirlwind visit to Taiwan on June 6, in a blatant violation of the three China-US joint communiques that allow no official exchanges of any form between Washington and the Chinese island, some US senators reportedly plan to hold a hearing to discuss how to enhance relations with Taiwan and to urge the US administration to quicken its steps to provide vaccines to the island. This comes despite there being no details of which vaccines Taiwan will supposedly get and when the 750,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses will be delivered to the island.

The DPP authorities along with the island's leader Tsai Ing-wen and these US politicians have put politics above the well-being of Taiwan people. Their political manipulation and attempts to divert public attention have wasted precious time and resources and led to the island's failure to respond effectively to the spread of the virus.

Those turning vaccines into a political tool cold-bloodedly disregard the spike in COVID-19 cases on the island.

Beijing, by doing its best to help Taiwan compatriots fight the pandemic, has repeatedly shown its willingness to provide the island with mainland-made vaccines, which have been cleared by the World Health Organization.

However, the DPP authorities have shown a cold shoulder to the mainland's show of goodwill, and even falsely claimed that the mainland was obstructing its vaccine procurement.

In stark contrast, incomplete statistics from the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council show that as of May 31, some 62,000 Taiwan compatriots had received their COVID-19 vaccine jabs on the Chinese mainland.

The Taiwan authorities' rejecting of the mainland's vaccine offer shows they have no respect for the life and health of people on the island and violate the most basic humanitarian spirit.

The political virus on display in Taiwan is worse than the novel coronavirus.