The Economist USA 03.28.2020

14 The EconomistMarch 28th 2020

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Letters

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

London

PoliticsinMyanmar

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,Maryland

The 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 St

Louis.It favoursconsensus

andincreasesthequalityof

candidatesbynotbeingvul-

nerabletovotesplitting.Amer-

icansshouldtryseveraldiffer-

entlocalmethods,sothatwe

canultimatelyreplacethe

currentsillynationalsystem.

felixsargent

Chair

Boardofdirectors

CentreforElectionScience

Oakland,California

Gettingelephantstobee-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’sCollegeLondon

Vital 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 was

still one of the smartest people

on the planet when he wrote

those words.

mario alemi

Milan

The 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

London

Living 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, Surrey

There is a sixth category of

house names: the professions.

My uncle, a pharmacist, called

his house Nux Vomica.

keith hunter

London

When 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