By Ben Blanchard and Yimou LeeTAIPEI: Taiwan's Foxconn and TSMC said on Monday they had reached deals to buy 10 million doses of Germany's BioNTech SE's COVID-19 vaccine, putting the total cost of the highly politicised deal at around $350 million.Taiwan's government has tried for months to buy the vaccine directly from BioNTech and has blamed China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own territory, for nixing an agreement the two sides were due to sign earlier this year. "But we can't relax, because we will continue to work hard to push for the delivery time and quantity," he said, adding the vaccines will come directly from Germany. "However, this batch of vaccines delivered directly from the German factory I believe will help Taiwanese society to increase confidence and offer respite in the face of the epidemic. "TSMC and Foxconn are major Apple Inc suppliers.Taiwan's government said it would comment later on Monday.Gou said Beijing did not interfere in the talks. "During the negotiation period after my donation was proposed, there was no guidance or interference from the Beijing authorities in the mainland on the vaccine procurement process.

Source: Economic Times July 12, 2021 01:30 UTC