KEY DEVELOPMENTS
- Taiwan has just 395 Cases and 6 deaths to date from Covid 19
- Thanks to the fast response from Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center
- Starting late last year.Taiwan implemented 124 measures, Including mobilising the Army to increase mask production at dozens of facilities, long before virtually anyone was considering the implications of the wholesale breakdown in the global (medical) supply chain
- Taiwan’s lack of international recognition by WHO was laid bare in reporter Yvonne Tong’s controversial interview with WHO’s Dr.Bruce Aylward
- After which, WHO quickly stated”The question of Taiwanese membership in WHO is up to WHO Member States, not WHO staff. “
- While the Hong Kong Government issued its own statement criticising public broadcaster RTHK, saying it went against Beijing’s “One China, Two System” policy, which RTHK refutes, asserting its right to editorial autonomy.
TAIPEI ACT
- Just last week, the White House quietly signed the TAIPEI Act into law, following unanimous approval in both houses of Congress; legally obliging the US Government to “increase its economic, diplomatic, and security engagements with nations… that have upgraded relations with Taipei.”
- Possibly either complicating things further, or creating a new backstop for Taipei-Beijing relations.
REGARDLESS OF POLITICS, WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM ALL THIS?
- Every story, including this one has a complex back-story
- Taiwan’s impressive management of its Covid situation didn’t happen in a vacuum, but was largely done in (political) isolation
- No matter what your politics, a lack of global cooperation is counter-productive in a crisis
- Taiwan’s handling of the situation shows the world that Covid is conquerable, despite very large odds
