In response to panic buying amid the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the government has placed restrictions on purchasing masks. Many people do not seem to understand why that is, but since my import and export business in continental Europe includes procuring masks and exporting them to Hong Kong, and even Australia and the UK, I know well that in the current situation, it is not possible to import large quantities of masks.
In Germany, there has been no rush of Chinese to buy masks in stores with cash, as in other countries. This is because in Germany, like most parts of Europe, wholesale markets seeking to buy masks in bulk must have an EU VAT number and an Economic Operators Registration and Identification number (EORI). Some manufacturers and distributors also require a local doctor’s license to purchase large volumes of masks.
It took me four months to procure an EU VAT number, and two months to acquire an EORI for my business — it is never as easy as former Taipei County commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) says.
Moreover, I have lived in Germany as an EU citizen since the pre-Brexit era — running a business in Germany as a non-EU citizen is not easy.
Most of the world’s masks are manufactured in China, and now that it is an outbreak, there are no more mask exports — instead China is trying to buy masks from other countries. It is no wonder that there is a shortage.
Many countries have implemented export restrictions on masks, and even use public health legislation to keep the supply for hospitals or centralized distribution by the government.
Therefore, importing masks is not as easy as Chou naively hoped — only those who have no knowledge about the difficulty of doing this kind of business would talk such nonsense.
Hong Kongers are well-known for international trade. In most countries, Hong Kongers have never had a problem procuring goods, but this time they have to acknowledge that products like masks, which involve public health, require their own manufacturing industry. This sentiment is shared by procurement professionals around the world.
For example, the supply of N95 masks (FFP2 in the European system) is not a big problem in Germany, because of the vigor of German industry — the occupational safety standards required by the government are very high, so there is regular demand for masks in a variety of industries.
With this ample supply and demand, there is no way the supply of masks for industrial purposes would ever disappear overnight.
Taiwan must consolidate its own mask manufacturing and turn itself from a net importer to a net exporter. This is the right way to prepare for the endless supply of strange epidemics originating in China — in 2003 there was SARS and this year it is COVID-19 — who knows what monstrous disease it would be next time.
There are too many sons of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nobility who know nothing about the outside world. They put forward many proposals that have no relation to reality. Fortunately, Taiwanese did not return these delusional people to government.
Martin Oei is a Hong Kong-born British political commentator based in Germany.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
When a recall campaign targeting the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators was launched, something rather disturbing happened. According to reports, Hualien County Government officials visited several people to verify their signatures. Local authorities allegedly used routine or harmless reasons as an excuse to enter people’s house for investigation. The KMT launched its own recall campaigns, targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, and began to collect signatures. It has been found that some of the KMT-headed counties and cities have allegedly been mobilizing municipal machinery. In Keelung, the director of the Department of Civil Affairs used the household registration system
RSS