As countries across the globe continue struggling to flatten their domestic epidemic curves, Beijing has sought to cast itself as a victor against COVID-19, and hence a natural leader in global pandemic efforts<\/a>–a hard sell to many, as Beijing’s official COVID-19 statistics have been questioned<\/a> by Chinese citizens and international experts, and China has reportedly been profiteering<\/a> off of faulty testing and protective gear<\/a>. Meanwhile, the continuing successes in Taiwan’s fight against the virus<\/a> have made the island nation a model for effective response<\/a>. While Taiwan\u2019s forced isolation from the world order has somewhat obscured its successes, the situation has provided Taipei with an opportunity to assert itself on the global stage.<\/p>\n

Despite Taiwan being just over 100 miles from the mainland and among the first countries to report cases, Taiwanese health authorities have so far confirmed only 380 cases of COVID-19 and five related deaths<\/a>. While Taiwan’s physical proximity to China may suggest a relatively high risk of mass infection, its political relationship with and long history facing hostility from the mainland help to explain its successful response. As a de facto<\/em> sovereign democracy with no seat at the United Nations, under near-constant military threat<\/a>, and with dwindling formal diplomatic partners<\/a>, Taiwan is well acquainted with<\/a> and experienced in countering CCP propaganda and disinformation<\/a>. Additionally, hard-learned lessons from the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic went a long way in guiding Taipei’s domestic response measures<\/strong><\/a>, as James Griffiths reports for CNN:<\/p>\n

During the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2003, Taiwan was\u00a0among the worst-hit territories<\/a>, along with Hong Kong and southern China. More than 150,000 people were quarantined on the island — 180 kilometers (110 miles) off China’s southeastern coast — and 181 people died.<\/p>\n

While SARS now pales in comparison to the current crisis, it sent shockwaves through much of Asia and cast a long shadow over how people responded to future outbreaks. This helped many parts of the region react faster to the current coronavirus outbreak and take the danger more seriously than in other parts of the world, both at a governmental and societal level, with border controls and\u00a0the wearing of face masks quickly becoming routine<\/a>\u00a0as early as January in many areas.<\/p>\n

Taiwan has a world-class health care system,\u00a0with universal coverage<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0As news of the coronavirus began to emerge from Wuhan in the run up to the Lunar New Year, officials at Taiwan’s National Health Command Center (NHCC) — set up in the wake of SARS — moved quickly to respond to the potential threat, according to a recent report\u00a0in the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/a> (JAMA). […] [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n

See also an Atlantic Council blogpost by Chang-Ching Tu, outlining four clear lessons to take away from Taiwan’s COVID-19 experience<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite its obvious upper-hand in preparation for the current pandemic, Taiwan’s uncertain geopolitical status may have largely prevented its successful experience from effectively guiding ongoing global public health efforts. Taiwan and the World Health Organization–which in 2017 revoked Taiwan’s short-lived observer status at the World Health Assembly<\/a>–are currently involved in a spat over the WHO’s unwillingness to work with Taipei, the organization’s parallel softness on Beijing, and the global implications of those political moves.<\/p>\n

On first news of a mysterious illness in Wuhan<\/a> last year–as health workers were being penalized by Wuhan authorities for spreading “rumors”<\/a> about a deadly new virus–Taipei began health inspections on all flights coming from Wuhan. When Chinese and WHO officials offered\u00a0statements urging calm<\/a> and continued trade and travel, Taipei–ever wary of official data from Beijing–sent health experts to Wuhan who concluded that the novel coronavirus could be far more hazardous<\/a>. They shared their findings with the WHO on December 31,<\/a> but despite evidence the WHO continues to deny receipt. When\u00a0the WHO <\/span>parroted China\u2019s claims <\/span><\/a>in mid-January that the virus didn\u2019t appear to spread by human-to-human transmission, Taipei already had sent them data suggesting the opposite<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus<\/a> (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan<\/a>, #China<\/a>\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf3. pic.twitter.com\/Fnl5P877VG<\/a><\/p>\n

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 14, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n