TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday (Jan. 27) voiced her full support for Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) chief Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) after Beijing called him "ignorant."
During a press conference on Wednesday, China's Taiwan Affairs Office Spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said "the man," referring to Chen, is "messing with" the Taiwanese public by setting the price of its coronavirus tests higher than those of other countries. She said Chinese only have to pay NT$344 (US$12.30) for an out-of-pocket coronavirus test, NT$5,000 (US$178.50) less than in Taiwan.
Zhu denounced Chen for his recent remarks that Taiwan's polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are much more accurate than China's. She said that Taiwanese are not easily fooled and that Chen should stop "playing politics with people's lives."
When asked to respond to Zhu's criticism, Chen said "the man" had no comment. He added that the price of the coronavirus tests is negotiable and that it is meaningless to compare Taiwan's medical costs with China's, reported the Liberty Times.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post Tsai published later that day, she praised Chen and the rest of the CECC for their leadership, saying there are thousands of unsung heroes in the country's pandemic battle. She said frontline medical workers are working around the clock to curb the spread of coronavirus.