Positive thinking can make a difference

In response to the continued severity of COVID-19 and increasing risk of community transmission in Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center elevated the epidemic warning to level 3 nationwide on May 19. Hospitals across the country, including E-Da Dachang Hospital in Kaohsiung, implemented the new epidemic prevention measures and regulations. As the outbreak escalated, the hospital’s work environment became unusually different. The demand for general medical treatment has reduced enormously, except for people with chronic diseases, who require regular follow-up visits. It seems as if people are following the pandemic prevention measures and regulations, staying at home and going out only for essential tasks. In the consultation room, I have recognized that some patients’ anxiety level has increased to the point that they experience minor somatic symptoms, stemming from the fear of a COVID-19 infection. Their worries have been expressed in questions and statements such as: “Am I infected with the new coronavirus? I have not gone out; how could I possibly get it?” Or, “I worry about my loved ones. They live in Taipei and I am afraid that they will become infected.” Another worry: “Since the outbreak in Taipei, the news reports keep talking about how the outbreak will end in a disaster. I was so scared and I couldn’t sleep.” On the other hand, some patients who have struggled with anxiety are able to remain calm and cope with confidence. These individuals have harnessed their stress-coping skills, even as the outbreak escalated. However, the atmosphere in the emergency room is quite different. It is tense and serious. Outside the hospital, at the quarantine station, many people wait to be screened for COVID-19. Medical staff are fully armed with protective garments to carefully screen people on a hot summer day. Moreover, the workload within the emergency room has significantly

By Andrew Yeh

EDITORIAL CARTOON

EDITORIAL CARTOON

‘Claims could run into billions’: The interests at stake if Tokyo Olympics are canceled

The least divisive statement in the saga surrounding the Tokyo Olympic Games — assuming, as many people do, that it will happen in about 40 days — is that it will be an Olympics like no other. Overseas fans have been banned; athletes would spend what for many would be the pinnacle of their career sealed off from the outside world; GPS-tracked journalists hoping to escape their hotel rooms for a late-night fix of ramen risk being put on the next flight home. Since their unprecedented postponement in March last year, as COVID-19 began its surge around the world, the Games have been stripped of almost every vestige of what makes them the most anticipated event in the sporting calendar. The prospect of an Olympics-lite going ahead while the virus continues to infect hundreds of thousands a day worldwide has many wondering why the International Olympic Committee (IOC), with the blessing of local organizers and the Japanese government, is pushing ahead with them. The official line is that cancelation would be too cruel a sacrifice to impose on thousands of athletes who have spent years training to compete on the Olympic stage, possibly for the last time. In explaining their motives for persevering in the face of opposition from the Japanese public, health experts and even a member of the Japanese Olympic Committee, IOC officials have avoided any mention of the irrepressible force driving the Games toward their July 23 opening date. The IOC and organizers stand to lose billions of dollars if the Tokyo Games fall victim to COVID-19 for a second time. Japan has officially spent US$15.4 billion on the Olympics, although government audits suggest the real figure is much higher. All but US$6.7 billion has come from Japanese taxpayers. The cost of cancelation to Japanese organizers could reach ￥1.8 trillion (US$16.41 billion), according to

By Justin McCurry

School reopenings cannot wait, as consequences are too great

With the COVID-19 pandemic well into its second year, safely reopening schools has become an urgent priority. School attendance is critical for children’s education and lifetime prospects. The long-term costs of closures — for individual children and society — are simply too large to justify on a continuing basis. Evidence since the start of the pandemic shows that COVID-19 does not pose a high risk to children, and that schools are not drivers of transmission within the surrounding community. We have also amassed a large body of knowledge about how to reduce the risks to children, teachers and their families. Using this knowledge, we all need to urgently work toward reopening schools safely to protect our children’s future. Prolonged school closures have a significant impact not just on children’s skills attainment and earning prospects, but also on their physical and mental health. While online education can guarantee some continuity of learning for some children, these services are no substitute for in-person attendance. Moreover, access to online learning remains woefully uneven, with disadvantaged children — including those with disabilities, those affected by migration and excluded minorities — bearing the brunt of the shortcomings of digital education. The evidence shows increases in anxiety, depression and self-harm among school-aged children since the start of the pandemic. Children who are not in the classroom also experience increased loneliness, difficulty concentrating and high levels of learning anxiety. These problems would only worsen the longer schools remain closed. School closures have also led to reduced physical activity, poor eating habits and disrupted sleep patterns. For some children, more time at home has increased the risk of domestic violence, just as more screen time has exacerbated the risks of online harm. With schools closed, a critical avenue for identifying and reporting abuse and mental-health issues has also been closed off. In nearly half

By Takeshi Kasai and Karin Hulshof

EDITORIAL: Chip firms can help vaccine progress

The Ministry of Science and Technology on Tuesday announced that COVID-19 researchers can apply for free access to Taiwan’s newest supercomputer, the Taiwania 3 (台灣杉三號). This is a great opportunity for Taiwan’s biotechnology sector, and something in which the government should invest more to help make the nation a hub for research into and the production of vaccines, antiviral medications and other biotechnologies. A News Corp Australia article published online on Dec. 14 last year said that IBM provided researchers with free access to 25 of its supercomputers for researching SARS-CoV-2. IBM said in a statement that its Summit supercomputer “has already enabled researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee to screen 8,000 compounds to find those that are most likely to bind to the main ‘spike’ protein of the coronavirus, rendering it unable to infect host cells.” Taiwan’s computer technology strengths are well known worldwide. Taiwan should leverage its chip capabilities to bolster its emerging biotechnology sector. Although local companies have made strides in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, one remains unavailable. Instead, Taiwan has had to rely on outside sources for vaccine purchases and donations, and is in the process of buying antiviral medications from the US to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Taiwan News reported on Sunday last week that a local vaccine being developed at Academia Sinica has been shown to be 2.7 percent more effective against variants of SARS-CoV-2 than other vaccines. Taiwan has faced challenges obtaining drugs and information related to the pandemic due to its lack of WHO membership and pressure from China. If Taiwan were to make advances in COVID-19 research and drug development, it could not only be self-reliant, but also a source of medicine and research for other countries — which would make arguments for its inclusion in

Importing vaccines not so simple

With Taiwan’s COVID-19 “ring of steel” breached, the public is demanding vaccines, and politicians are calling for vaccine imports to be expedited. However, the manner in which the debate is being conducted leaves much to be desired. Some people believe that companies and nonprofit groups should be allowed to import vaccines. This is not as simple as it sounds. The mRNA vaccines made by Moderna and BioNTech need to be stored at extremely low temperatures during their transportation from overseas manufacturing plants to the clinics that administer them. Regarding the BioNTech vaccine, its export from the EU requires complex paperwork and procedures. It would be extremely difficult for anyone without a pharmaceutical background to attempt to surmount this hurdle, let alone keep it at the required temperature throughout transit. Additionally, this vaccine has only been granted emergency use authorization from the European Medicines Agency. This means that it can only be sold to companies participating in Germany’s domestic vaccination program; it cannot be bought by individuals or companies. Outside Germany, it can only be sold to governments due to insurance issues. Although Taiwan has procured about 5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine from Europe, some Taiwanese are urging the government to purchase the German-produced BioNTech vaccine as well. However, when China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group signed a contract with BioNTech to exclusively develop and sell its mRNA technology in China, it was able to wedge Taiwan into the agreement. Thus, Beijing has prevented Taiwan from buying the vaccine directly from the German manufacturer. Germany and BioNTech’s hands are tied. How long will the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) continue to act as Beijing’s fifth column in Taiwan? It is doing so by continuing to agitate for the BioNTech vaccine, produced under China’s license. Uptake of the BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong has been low. Many Hong

By Martin Oei 黃世澤

Taiwan must be included in talks

During his first overseas trip as president, US President Joe Biden on June 15 is scheduled to visit Brussels and meet European Commission and Council presidents Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel. In their joint statement following consultations between European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino and US State Department Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman last month, the two sides reaffirmed the strength of transatlantic relations. They stressed a mutual interest in strengthening the rules-based international order and pledged close cooperation in support of democratic values, global and regional stability, and human rights. They agreed to continue cooperation regarding “possible joint approaches to bring about positive change in the Indo-Pacific.” Given the breakdown in mutual transatlantic trust during the previous presidency, convergence is welcome. While their capacities and ambitions diverge, Washington and Brussels agree on the need to strengthen their participation in the Indo-Pacific region, as both have indicated through concrete regional policy measures. In order for their efforts to be comprehensive, effective and sustainable, they must recognize that no Indo-Pacific strategy will be inclusive without Taiwan’s participation. They must also recognize Taiwan’s merit as a technologically advanced economy, a thriving democracy and a member of the WTO, led by a democratically elected government that can contribute as a legitimate member of the international community. While the US and the EU value Taiwan’s role in ensuring a peaceful Indo-Pacific, it will take a greater amount of political will to treat Taiwan as a genuine partner. The upcoming summit provides an opportunity to act. The containment of China in the Indo-Pacific remains Washington’s top foreign policy priority. Maintaining its strategic primacy in the region and the promotion of a liberal economic order has topped all other issues, including Russia, and — significantly — its relations with Europe. Washington needs the cooperation of like-minded

By Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy

Consider needs of medical workers

Each and every life is precious. As we watch COVID-19 patients die every day, there is a heartbroken family behind each one. When a family member is put in quarantine, the parting could be permanent. The sorrow and regret of never being able to see a loved one again is so strong that it is difficult for someone else to understand the complexity of these emotions. Those who have been lost to the pandemic were not only someone else’s loved one. They were also a fellow Taiwanese, and there is a certain degree of mutual empathy we must have for them and their families, as we think about how we would feel if such a tragedy were to happen to us. Since the outbreak started last month, local medical workers — especially those who serve in “hot spots” where infections are more frequent — have been busier than what we see on the news. What is even worse is that these medical workers’ lives are not only threatened by becoming infected by COVID-19, they are also threatened by their patients’ behavior. On May 31, a man being treated for COVID-19 allegedly lost control of his mental faculties and allegedly attacked three nurses with a knife at Taipei Medical University’s Shuang Ho Hospital in New Taipei City. He later said that the nurses had “ignored” him during his medical treatment. As the virus spreads in Taiwan, the physical and mental condition of frontline medical workers must be given more attention. They are engaged in a medical war in their efforts to protect us all. If every patient who tests positive for COVID-19 rushes to a hospital, quarantine center or quarantine hotel, and receives the treatment needed to become healthy and return home to their loved ones, medical workers would feel rewarded for their hard work. A

By Lee Jiang-en 李江恩

EDITORIAL CARTOON

EDITORIAL CARTOON

Myths abound 20 years after discovery of human genome

Twenty years ago, the science journal Nature published the first draft of the human genome — the sequence of chemical “letters” on the gene-bearing DNA of our chromosomes. The Human Genome Project (HGP) had labored for a decade to read this coded information. In a White House press conference in 2000, Francis Collins, who led the project as director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, waxed Biblical, calling the human genome “our own instruction book, previously known only to God.” The HGP has huge potential benefits for medicine and our understanding of human diversity and origins, but a blizzard of misleading rhetoric surrounded the project, contributing to the widespread and sometimes dangerous misunderstandings about genes that now bedevil the genomic age. So far, there have been few attempts to set the record straight. Even now, the National Human Genome Research Institute calls the HGP an effort to read “nature’s complete genetic blueprint for building a human being” — the “book of instructions” that “determine our particular traits.” A genome, says the institute, “contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism.” However, this deterministic “instruction book” image is precisely the fallacy that genomics has overturned, and the information in the genome is demonstrably incomplete. Yet no one associated with genomic research seems bothered about correcting these false claims. In an area as full of promise and peril as genomics, clear communication is essential. The ability to sequence our full complement of genes has enabled some great strides in medicine, but it has not yet been as transformative as initially promised. Successes in gene therapy remain rare, and medicine tailored to people’s individual genetic constitution has not yet materialized. Meanwhile, a deterministic view of genes has helped arguments about eugenics and “innate” racial characteristics to re-enter public discourse. The first gene-edited babies were

By Philip Ball

Building an inclusive digital future

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition to a digital economy, which will hold the key to growth and opportunities. That is why, as we prepare for the post-pandemic era, we must acknowledge that the digital economy’s potentially limitless benefits will not be equally distributed unless we take the right steps now. Mobile devices, the Internet, cloud computing and other innovations have created a hyperconnected global space in which billions of people can work and pursue more dynamic ways of life. Digital platforms have changed the way we consume, work and create economic value, and digital assets such as computers, communications equipment and software have helped firms reduce production costs and enhance efficiency. The digital transformation will continue to accelerate with the wider adoption of big data and the convergence of fourth industrial revolution technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Already, a McKinsey Global Survey finds that the pandemic has led businesses to accelerate “the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years.” However, the question is whether the benefits of this acceleration will extend beyond businesses to workers and consumers. By making old technologies, processes and even entire industries obsolete, digitalization will continue to cause job losses. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report last year predicted that many private companies will employ machines and algorithms more broadly than ever, hindering employment prospects across sectors and regions. AI, robots and other new technologies could threaten 15 percent of the average company’s workforce as soon as 2025. Given such effects, the digital transformation could widen social and economic disparities, and expand the wage gap between digitally skilled and unskilled workers. There is already a deep divide between socioeconomic groups and across regions when it comes to access to new digital technologies, and technological

By Lee Jong-wha

EDITORIAL: China expands its horizons

On Monday last week, a formation of 16 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes flew over the South China Sea near Malaysian Borneo and intruded into the airspace of Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone. Although it was not the first incursion into Malaysian airspace by Chinese military aircraft, it was the first time such a large formation had been dispatched by China. It was yet another worrying indication that Beijing senses an opportunity to aggressively shape the post-COVID-19 world in its own image and has stepped up its plans to expand the frontiers of its empire well beyond the limits of its “nine-dash line” territorial claim, which covers about 90 percent of the South China Sea. Chinese coast guard vessels frequently probe Malaysia’s economic zone off Malaysian Borneo — a carbon copy of the salami-slicing modus operandi that Beijing employs toward other nations in the region, including Taiwan, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam. Taiwan is on the front line of China’s “gray zone” operations. China’s coast guard and militia fishing vessels relentlessly push boundaries at sea, while its military aircraft probe Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, conducting provocative encirclement exercises to simulate an aerial and maritime blockade. In an interview with the broadcaster Voice of America, Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii, said: “I think it’s another slice in the salami. China’s end goal in the South China Sea is to control the water and the skies, so every day they advance a little.” Yet despite all that has occurred over the past decade — peppering the South China Sea with military bases, imposing national security legislation on Hong Kong in contravention of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, enacting domestic legislation to provide a legal basis for a military invasion of Taiwan, instigating clashes with the

Uighurs deceived into detainment

China has received some diplomatic warnings in the past few months not to increase the scale and intensity of its crackdown on Uighur “separatists,” because doing so would make the entire Uighur people hostile, and it would be impossible to imprison them all. In accounts heard from the separatists, before their heroes were imprisoned, many of them had made a courageous pronouncement: “My absence is equal to the disappearance of a single stone of the Tengri Tagh mountain [Tianshan, 天山], and my people, the Tengri Tagh, will live forever.” However, in the last four years, China has cast doubt on this longevity by detaining 1.8 million people in internment camps in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, also known as East Turkistan. How was this possible? It involved not 1.8 million sheep, but human beings. How could it have been done without resistance? And how could it have been done and kept secret for an entire year? As experts have noted, many factors contributed to the mass detainment’s success, including China’s economic might, technological advantages and decades of experience with societal control, as well as the weakness of international law and institutions. One contributing factor that so far has not been mentioned is the state-orchestrated trap. According to the Radio Free Asia Uighur Service, which closely monitors Xinjiang, when the detention camps were established in 2017, China first focused its arrests on young people born in the 1970s through the 1990s, those blacklisted as the “dangerous generation.” After that, middle-aged parents were arrested. In the third step, even some older people who were dissatisfied with the detention of their family members were seized. Females were not spared; family members were detained in order from the strongest to the weakest, men before women. None from the “dangerous generation” imagined that their wives and then

By Shohret Hoshur

Japan sets an example for others

At 1:57pm on June 4, a gift from Japan arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Japan Airlines Flight JL809 was carrying a donation of 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. This moment stuck me for its historic importance, and I could not stop myself from saying out loud: “Good for you, Japan. Thank you.” Germany, by contrast, has opted to dance to the tune of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle, despite the fact that Germans feel the CCP breathing down their necks when they handle political issues involving Taiwan. It is not difficult to understand why Japan has a better relationship with Taiwan than Germany does. The explanation can be expressed by one word: warmth. The respective differences in geographical distance between Taiwan and these countries is of little consequence, and emotive, ill-meaning references to Japan’s imperialist past are unhelpful in this discussion. Taiwanese are not suffering from some form of Stockholm Syndrome, laboring under historical baggage as one-time subjects of the Japanese emperor. Following the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan, Taiwan led the world in its generosity of donations, sending more than ￥20 billion (US$182.4 million at the current exchange rate), more than any other country in the world. This act of generosity on the part of the Taiwanese opened a door between our nations. It should be noted that Taiwanese donated almost NT$9 billion (US$324.9 million) to China after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and all we have received in return for the favor is continual provocation from the warships and fighter jets of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. In the decade since the 2011 earthquake, the Japanese and their government — especially when former prime minister Shinzo Abe was at the helm — have expressed their gratitude to Taiwan and returned the goodwill

By Chang Kuo-tsai 張國財

Lessons from Taiwan’s experience with HBV

After Taiwan managed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year, a surge in locally transmitted cases began in the middle of last month. Most people seem to believe that the best solution is to quickly vaccinate everyone to achieve herd immunity as soon as possible. The vaccine issue is an incendiary matter, and the advances made in developing a Taiwan-produced vaccine has caused much controversy. At the end of the 20th century, the hepatitis B virus (HBV) was rampant in Taiwan. When I started teaching at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in the early 1980s, when the school was called National Yang Ming College of Medicine, I helped a medical team composed of members from Yang Ming and Taipei Veterans General Hospital to clone and sequence the HBV genome, and begin work on a vaccine. Due to our late start, the government decided to import HBV vaccines, because saving lives was more urgent than completing the research locally. The decision successfully prevented the virus from spreading and significantly reduced the occurrence of liver cancer in Taiwan. Although our project was aborted midway, the medical team did not complain. After the team was dissolved, the members turned to researching the formation of cancers, and the results fostered the development of biomedical engineering in the nation. There is nothing wrong with the government trying to develop and enhance the domestic vaccine industry, but the severe COVID-19 situation presents officials with a dilemma. Even though the results of the phase 2 clinical trials for the local vaccines have yet to be released, and there is no guarantee that they are safe and effective, the government has signed contracts to obtain at least 5 million doses each from two local manufacturers. Meanwhile, the government’s purchase of foreign vaccines has been delayed by Chinese intervention. Local governments

By Choo Kong-bung 朱廣邦

EDITORIAL CARTOON

EDITORIAL CARTOON

Despite danger and cost, Japan gambles on successful Olympics

The Tokyo Olympic Games is reaching the point of no return. With seven weeks until the opening ceremony, the Japanese government, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and major stakeholders are gambling political reputations and billions of dollars on staging an Olympics that could lift global spirits and show the world how to begin a return to normality — or, in the worst case, it could create a superspreader event that savages Japan’s tottering economic recovery and blights the image of the world’s biggest sporting showcase. Mired in controversy since the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to be delayed early last year, the Games have become a weather vane for opinion on how governments and populations should beat the virus. Initially, the goal was to delay the 205-nation spectacle until the pandemic was under control, but as months passed and vaccine rollouts struggled to quench new outbreaks, the tournament has become symbolic of a divide between those who want to keep restrictions until COVID-19 is stamped out, and those driven by the financial and reputational cost of not holding the event, even while the threat remains. Here is what is at stake, whether the Games go ahead or are canceled at the last moment, from the reputation of Japan’s top political echelon to the investments of sponsors, governments and organizers, as well as the health of the city’s population, and the dreams and well-being of the world’s greatest athletes. THE ECONOMY Scrapping the Games could inflict a direct economic loss of as much as ￥1.8 trillion (US$16.4 billion), Nomura Research Institute economist Takahide Kiuchi said, but the economic fallout could run much wider than that. As well as the lost spending by participants, their entourages and local residents, the cancelation would be a blow to the mood of the nation that could depress spending and investment across the

By Isabel Reynolds, Yuko Takeo and Gerry Smith