Very few governments around the world are likely to emerge from the pandemic in an even stronger position than before. Taiwan is one of them — and that’s not good for China.
Taiwan was forced to contain the outbreak without official help from the World Health Organization and other international bodies, thanks to China’s longstanding push to isolate the democratically ruled island that it claims as its territory. For weeks, leaders in Taipei struggled to evacuate residents from the virus epicenter in Wuhan, as Beijing rejected basic conditions such as having Taiwanese medical personnel aboard the aircraft.
Around the same time, the People’s Republic of China flew bombers and fighter jets around the island, prompting President Tsai Ing-wen to scramble warplanes.