As of yesterday, COVID-19 had already taken the lives of 518 Taiwanese, and there seems to be no end in sight for a nationwide level 3 alert that has been in effect for a month. Worldwide, the virus has caused medical systems to collapse, leaving tens of thousands dead.
Still, no nation has been brought to its knees: The virus is not an existential threat to nations.
Just a month ago, the public had been complacent about the virus. Then, four weeks ago, COVID-19 suddenly reared its ugly head in Taiwan, and the nation became fixated on vaccines. Once the public realized that Taiwan only had about 1 percent of the vaccine stocks it required, a tsunami of anxiety and fear washed over the nation.
Talking heads, media organizations and politicians fell over themselves to censure the government for not being prepared, and criticized its control measures as inadequate or misconceived. A narrative quickly formed that cast Taiwan as being in the grips of “vaccine chaos.”
Thankfully, the Japanese government threw the government a lifeline. On June 4, a Japan Airlines plane landed in Taipei, laden with a donation of 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
“For Taiwan, speed, not quantity, is of the essence,” former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said.
This shows that Abe understood that Taiwan was drowning in fear. Once the consignment of vaccines arrived, sure enough, the fear began to recede.
Two days later, three US senators — Tammy Duckworth, Dan Sullivan and Chris Coons — flew into Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) from South Korea for a three-hour stopover.
The cross-party delegation pledged that Washington would donate 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan by the end of this month.
In addition to the gift and the political significance of Washington’s support, many Taiwanese focused on the US military Boeing C-17 Globemaster strategic transport aircraft that the three senators arrived on.
The massive aircraft engendered a feeling of calm, strength, technical superiority and force. The large “US AIR FORCE” bold lettering emblazoned on the side of the aircraft also became a talking point: The appearance at Songshan airport had the additional effect of calming the public’s frayed nerves.
As Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (孫子) wrote: “If you wish to feign confusion in order to lure the enemy on, you must first have perfect discipline; if you wish to display timidity in order to entrap the enemy, you must have extreme courage; if you wish to parade your weakness in order to make the enemy overconfident, you must have exceeding strength.”
“Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdividing one’s army into units and practicing deception,” he wrote.
“Alternatively,” he added, “seeing that we are favorably circumstanced and yet make no move, the enemy will believe that we are really afraid.”
“Carefully conceal your best soldiers and only allow the infirm and emaciated to be seen by the enemy,” he wrote.
With Washington and Tokyo’s assistance, the public’s timidity and weakness have received shock therapy, and the sense of fear has dissipated.
City and county governments, as well as command centers, could improve cooperation and management efficiency. They could do this perhaps by making use of big data to carry out automated epidemiological analysis to track possible virus transmission pathways. This could include creating a smartphone app to provide an amalgamated virus prevention and public health portal linked to each user’s National Health Insurance card.
The high transmission speed and efficiency of this networked data could surpass the transmission speed of the virus, thereby keeping it in check. This would restore order, and Taiwan would once again become a model for managing the virus on the international stage.
The virus on its own cannot destroy a nation, but fear and chaos can.
Joly Lin is vice chairman of Mennonite Christian Hospital in Hualien County and vice president of a company.
Translated by Edward Jones
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