14 The EconomistMarch 28th 2020
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Taiwan’s response to covid-
Countries are indeed strug-
gling to cope with covid-
(“The politics of pandemics”,
March 14th). But China’s
approach is not the only way to
suppress its spread. Taiwan
has relatively few cases of the
disease. Learning harsh
lessons from the sarscrisis in
2003, the government of
Taiwan acted swiftly and
established a central command
centre in order to respond to
the outbreak. Taiwan’s health
minister held press confer-
ences almost every day to
provide updates and infor-
mation. Tests on travellers
from Wuhan, the Chinese city
where the outbreak started,
began in December, one month
ahead of China. Technology
using big-data analysis was
applied for intensive health
monitoring.
Despite being excluded
from participating in the
World Health Organisation
because of pressure from
China, Taiwan sent an early
warning to the international
health body about the risk of
transmission of the corona-
virus between humans at the
end of December. However, the
warning was not shared with
other countries by the who
because of its relationship
with China. That error ulti-
mately delayed the global
response to the pandemic. The
politics of pandemics, which
exists inside the whoas well as
between states, should be
unacceptable to any country
that cares about public health.
The Chinese propaganda
machine is trying to convince
the world that its draconian
response to the coronavirus is
the only way to combat its
spread; other countries are
following its lead. Taiwan
proves that democracies can
successfully fight the virus
without an authoritarian
response. Given the nature of
China’s autocratic system,
Taiwan should serve as a better
democratic model for manag-
ing pandemics.
david lin
Taipei Representative Office in
the United Kingdom
LondonPoliticsinMyanmar
Youprovidedgoodcontextfor
therecentfailurebycivilian
lawmakerstolimitthegener-
als’powerinMyanmar
(“Makingwarandlaw”,March
14th).Since 1962 thearmed
forceshavedeterminedto
controlpowerinperpetuity,
whichtheyhaveaccomplished
throughrulebydecree
(1962-74,1988-2011),a single-
partysocialistsystemcon-
trolledbythearmy(1974-88),
and,sincethemanipulated
electionsin2010,througha
constitutionwhichthegener-
alsdictateandcannotbe
alteredwithouttheirapproval.
Yetthiscontinuousmilitary
controlwasnotonlybasedon
commandofallforcesofcoer-
cion,but,untilrecently,all
avenuesofsocialmobility(a
contrastwithallotherarmies
inAsiawithnosuchpervasive
power).Thathasnowgradually
brokendownthroughpoliti-
cal,economic,educationaland
civiladvances.Militarycontrol
willprobablyebb,though
slowlyandinrelationtoassur-
ancesoftheunityofthestate
andthearmy’sautonomyfrom
civilianpoliticalrestraints.But
thelocalelectionsof 2020 will
notchangethattrajectory.
davidsteinberg
ProfessoremeritusofAsian
studiesatGeorgetown
University
Bethesda,MarylandThe primary problem
Lexington was right to point
out that our primary system
poorly reflects the public
interest (February 29th). The
column referred to a paper by
the Brookings Institution,
which says that “party organi-
sations need to find ways to
reassert more control over
their candidate selection
processes before candidates
reach the primary ballot.”
The error is in the way we
vote. When only a single vote is
allowed, moderates split their
votes and radicals win. There
are several better options, such
as “approval voting”, which
was recently implemented in
Fargo, North Dakota, and will
soon be on the ballot in StLouis.It favoursconsensus
andincreasesthequalityof
candidatesbynotbeingvul-
nerabletovotesplitting.Amer-
icansshouldtryseveraldiffer-
entlocalmethods,sothatwe
canultimatelyreplacethe
currentsillynationalsystem.
felixsargent
Chair
Boardofdirectors
CentreforElectionScience
Oakland,CaliforniaGettingelephantstobee-have
Conflictbetweenhumansand
elephantsremainsa problem
inmanypartsoftheworld,
includingSriLanka(Banyan,
February29th).Thereisa very
simpleandcost-effective
naturalsolution:beehive
fences.Elephantsareterrified
ofbeesandwillfleeateventhe
soundofthem.Beehivefences
involvewiresstrungbetween
hives;if elephantswalk
throughthewirestheyirritate
thebees,whichswarmoutand
chasethemaway.LucyKing
developedtheconceptandit is
nowusedwidelyineastAfrica
(seeherrecenttedtalk).Not
onlyisit aneffectivedeterrent,
farmerscanalsomakemoney
fromsellinghoney.
richardmilburn
King’sCollegeLondonVital writing on viruses
In this particular moment of
crisis, Freeman Dyson’s ideas
on the origin of life are of
particular interest (Obituary,
March 14th). In a humble “not
scientific theory”, Dyson
proposed that rna, the infor-
mation engine of viruses, was
at the origin of cells’ dna. With
time, the rnaand the cells
learned how to collaborate and
“grew gradually into a harmo-
nious unity”. Dyson was a
supporter of the idea that
symbiosis, or collaboration, is
among the driving forces
behind evolution in cells as
much as in societies. He an-
swered an unsolicited email I
sent him last January with kind
words: “At age 96, I am lucky to
be still smart enough to know
that I am not as smart as I used
to be.” Kindness and humble-
ness often go together. He wasstill one of the smartest people
on the planet when he wrote
those words.
mario alemi
MilanThe meaning of congenital
Your piece on curing rare
genetic diseases with targeted
therapies showed what can be
done with analysis of our dna
(“Broken”, March 14th).
Unfortunately its subheading
was “Congenital disease”.
Congenital means originating
from the time of birth and
covers genetic and non-genetic
defects, like my own con-
genital anosmia. I don’t intend
to have my gene analysed in
order to be able to smell.
peter tompkins
LondonLiving in Arcadia
I was amused to read your
piece on British house names
(“Dun Namin’”, March 14th).
Some of us did not have a
choice. When we moved to our
house 16 years ago there were
numbers on the opposite side
of the road but not ours, so we
had to choose a name. Hasle-
mere incidentally is a post-
man’s hell for two reasons: a
very high number of named
houses and many steep hills.
jock gardner
Haslemere, SurreyThere is a sixth category of
house names: the professions.
My uncle, a pharmacist, called
his house Nux Vomica.
keith hunter
LondonWhen I dealt with retired per-
sonnel in the Royal Air Force
an inordinate number of them
named their home Llamedos.
Eventually, I realised the con-
nection to Dylan Thomas’s
Llareggub, “bugger all”.
clive rainbow
Speen, Berkshire