DE) COVID-19 vaccine, putting the total expense of the highly politicised deal at around $350 million.Taiwans government has actually tried for months to buy the vaccine straight from BioNTech and has blamed China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own area, for nixing an agreement the two sides were due to sign earlier this year.”Taiwans Cabinet said the vaccines would be contributed for free to the government.Cabinet representative Lo Ping-cheng told press reporters the government was likewise looking to purchase 15 million “next generation” Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) shots for next year and the year after.TAIWAN TRANSFIXEDThe BioNTech vaccine drama has transfixed Taiwan and controlled headings. Fosun deleted an earlier statement from its WeChat account pointing out BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin as saying the company was “very grateful” to be able to provide the vaccine to Taiwan.Fosun did not immediately react to a request for comment on why those comments were removed.Taiwan has millions of vaccines on order, primarily from AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) and Moderna, while the United States and Japan have actually together contributed practically 5 million doses to the island to help speed up vaccinations.A person familiar with the talks informed Reuters the involvement of TSMC and the genuine U.S. and Japanese vaccine contributions had produced a global environment that was favourable to Taiwan and made it hard for China to block the deal.Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Kim Coghill and Richard PullinOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.