How did Taiwan manage to contain the coronavirus when so many others have struggled? The answer is complex, but one explanation dates back to events that happened well before COVID-19 began to emerge.
Its proximity to and the number of flights between it and China meant Taiwan — population 23 million — was expected to have a high number of cases of COVID-19,And yet months later, as some countries struggle with the ongoing toll of the pandemic, Taiwan seems to have the coronavirus under control.
It has even allowed baseball games to continue — with up to 1,000 spectators now allowed in the stands, spaced far apart.The answer is complex, but one explanation dates back to events that happened well before the coronavirus began to emerge in China.Taiwan's history with China meant that it has long been suspicious of the mainland.
President Tsai Ing-wen, who wants Taiwan to maintain its current independent governance, won by a landslide anyway., China may have inadvertently stopped an undetected early outbreak of coronavirus on the island. Chan Chang-chuan, the dean of National Taiwan University's college of public health, told the ABC that Taiwan "took very decisive actions from the beginning".According to Mark Harrison, Australia's foremost expert on Taiwan and senior lecturer in Chinese studies at the University of Tasmania, the island's tense relationship with the mainland fuelled their quick action.
That information may have prompted Taiwanese officials to marshal their world-class medical system to get ready for a pandemic. For example, Chen Chien-jen, who was Taiwan's health minister during the 2002-2003 SARS crisis, and was the island's vice-president during the early stages of the pandemic.Stay up-to-date on the coronavirus outbreak
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