An article written by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is one of the featured stories in a special issue published by Time magazine on Thursday that asked more than 50 “Time 100” honorees for their insights on the challenges the world faces navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
The special issue, titled “Finding Hope,” reached out to hundreds of people who have appeared on Time’s list of the 100 most influential people, including former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and the Dalai Lama, for their perspectives on the pandemic, the US magazine said.
Taiwan’s success in preventing a major outbreak of the coronavirus “is no coincidence,” Tsai wrote in the article.
“A combination of efforts by medical professionals, government, private sector and society at large have armored our country’s defenses,” she wrote, adding that the painful lesson Taiwan learned during the 2003 SARS outbreak put its government and people on high alert early on.
Taiwan began monitoring incoming passengers from Wuhan, China, as early as December last year, established the Central Epidemic Command Center in January, and subsequently introduced travel restrictions and quarantine protocols for high-risk travelers, she wrote.
In addition to public health professionals, the Taiwanese public, businesses and communities have all taken steps to contain the virus, she wrote.
“Although Taiwan has been unfairly excluded from the WHO and the UN, we remain willing and able to utilize our strengths across manufacturing, medicine and technology to work with the world,” she wrote.
“Taiwan is no stranger to hardship, and our resilience stems from our willingness to unite to surmount even the toughest obstacles,” she said. “This, above all else, is what I hope Taiwan can share with the world: the human capacity to overcome challenges together is limitless. Taiwan can help.”
Time magazine has postponed the publication of this year’s “Time 100” list, previously scheduled for release on Thursday, to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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