(Original source: Monocle)
On 15 April, Representative Lin highlighted Taiwan’s leading role in the fight against coronavirus during an interview titled “Taipei shows leadership” with Monocle 24 Editor and presenter Andrew Tuck. When elaborating Taiwan’s actions to combat the spread of COVID-19 at the very beginning, Representative Lin stressed the importance of quick action, rapid response and early deployment in building an effective prevention system. He pointed out that Taiwan began checking passengers arriving from Wuhan for symptoms of fever or pneumonia as early as 31 December 2019, and then activated the Central Epidemic Command Centre on 20 January 2020 to coordinate and integrate measures taken by relevant government agencies. Commenting on Taiwan’s dealing with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, Representative Lin emphasised this past experience helped Taiwan’s preparation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that “the system is working very well, and we hope that we will continue to do that.”
On the subject of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Representative Lin pointed out the WHO did not respond to Taiwan’s notification of the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus on 31 December 2019, with the global health body declaring the virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern some time later on 30 January 2020. Representative Lin also stressed the WHO’s exclusion of Taiwan due to China’s pressure and boycott, adding that such treatment is unfair and unjust to the 24 million people of Taiwan because health is a fundamental human right, and health for all is the basic goal of the WHO. “There should be no loophole, Taiwan should be included, Taiwan should be incorporated in the international public health system,” Representative Lin stated. In response to questions about daily life in Taiwan following the global outbreak of coronavirus, Representative Lin emphasised that people are living normal lives with some travel restrictions for those coming from seriously affected areas. Representative Lin also reiterated President Tsai Ing-wen’s message of Taiwan’s willingness to cooperate with other countries in fighting the pandemic, citing the country’s recent donation of medical face masks to other countries, including the UK. “We are hoping we can play a very important part to coordinate and cooperate with other countries in fighting this pandemic."