After having been virtually grounded for the past two years, I flew to New York last week. I was met with quite a few surprises on the journey, starting from my arrival at San Francisco International Airport. There, masks were required, but the flight was full.
When I arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, it was bustling. In the evening I went out for a meal, and the restaurants were all full: Some even had lines of customers waiting to get in.
People were required to wear masks at all times, but it had the appearance of being a mere formality; people rubbed shoulders with others, and from the voices and the accents I heard, I would guess that the majority of visitors were European.
In the street outside the Empire State Building there was a tent every 10m or so offering free COVID-19 tests, but there were few takers.
In the evening, I went down to Broadway, which was bustling, and nearby a sea of concertgoers was descending on Carnegie Hall. Everyone was required to wear a mask at all times, and before they were allowed in they were asked to show evidence of having received three vaccines.
The air could have been thick with SARS-CoV-2, but nobody seemed to mind.
Before I had left Taiwan, I made sure to get a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose. I told the doctor that I was going to New York and wanted to make sure I was protected, and they nodded their head in approval.
On my third day in the city I got a bit of a sniffle in the evening — I guess there was no avoiding it — but it had gone by the time I woke up the next day, and I felt right as rain once more. I went on with my trip as planned.
Compared with New York, the restaurants in California were all open, but they were not as packed. I also noticed that many customers preferred to take out their orders rather than eat in.
In that way, you could say that California is a bit like Asia, with everybody still monitoring the situation, still wary.
New York on the other hand was more like Europe, where people have come to just accept that the virus is here.
People are everywhere in the subway and in restaurants as before the COVID-19 pandemic, except that now everyone is wearing a mask. Office life has also returned to normal.
Everyone seems to be paying less and less attention to the number of confirmed cases; so long as there are not too many people with severe symptoms putting a strain on the medical system, nobody seems to care all that much.
The virus is now in its fourth wave, but the vaccines and accumulated antibodies are keeping the worst effects at bay, and life has pretty much returned to normal. Lockdowns are a thing of the past, and the focus is on vaccines and developing antibodies.
People are, after all, social animals, and the economy needs to continue moving.
Mike Chang is an accountant.
Translated by Paul Cooper
Two weeks ago, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) raised hackles in Taiwan by posting to her 2.6 million Instagram followers that she was visiting “Taipei, China.” Yeoh’s post continues a long-standing trend of Chinese propaganda that spreads disinformation about Taiwan’s political status and geography, aimed at deceiving the world into supporting its illegitimate claims to Taiwan, which is not and has never been part of China. Taiwan must respond to this blatant act of cognitive warfare. Failure to respond merely cedes ground to China to continue its efforts to conquer Taiwan in the global consciousness to justify an invasion. Taiwan’s government
Earlier signs suggest that US President Donald Trump’s policy on Taiwan is set to move in a more resolute direction, as his administration begins to take a tougher approach toward America’s main challenger at the global level, China. Despite its deepening economic woes, China continues to flex its muscles, including conducting provocative military drills off Taiwan, Australia and Vietnam recently. A recent Trump-signed memorandum on America’s investment policy was more about the China threat than about anything else. Singling out the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a foreign adversary directing investments in American companies to obtain cutting-edge technologies, it said
The recent termination of Tibetan-language broadcasts by Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a significant setback for Tibetans both in Tibet and across the global diaspora. The broadcasts have long served as a vital lifeline, providing uncensored news, cultural preservation and a sense of connection for a community often isolated by geopolitical realities. For Tibetans living under Chinese rule, access to independent information is severely restricted. The Chinese government tightly controls media and censors content that challenges its narrative. VOA and RFA broadcasts have been among the few sources of uncensored news available to Tibetans, offering insights
“If you do not work in semiconductors, you are nothing in this country.” That is what an 18-year-old told me after my speech at the Kaohsiung International Youth Forum. It was a heartbreaking comment — one that highlights how Taiwan ignores the potential of the creative industry and the soft power that it generates. We all know what an Asian nation can achieve in that field. Japan led the way decades ago. South Korea followed with the enormous success of “hallyu” — also known as the Korean wave, referring to the global rise and spread of South Korean culture. Now Thailand