I understand people’s frustration with Taiwan’s policy for foreigners to send masks out. But Taiwan has been alone on this. We had to make masks to help our people because no one else will. We got very lucky this got contained the way it did. Even with the measures taken, it’s not a guarantee. So a little bit of selfishness and over protective policy is understandable. We are already trying to send masks to other countries in need.
What worries me is this time it seems to be under control. What about next time? Will other countries help Taiwan?
According to the rules, the limit is on senders and recipients with a maximum of 30 for either.
Taiwanese sending to Taiwanese relatives will be limited by the number of recipients as there is more recipients than senders, whereas foreigners sending to foreign relatives will be limited by senders. The first group is much bigger than the second, so will dominate the mask supply, allowing foreigners should not have major impact. I suspect that Taiwanese with non-Taiwanese relatives is an even smaller group still.
ETA: I suppose the Taiwanese with foreign spouses would count in the 3rd group so the number may be much larger than the 2nd, and it would be difficult to track recipients. So there may be justification in this.
As I suspected, foreign residents of Taiwan sending out masks will have minimal impact . We should be able to do what we want with our allocation, the government is overstretching the mark right now.
It’s all about that Tong Yi Bian Hao though. That’s what the system is set up for. They love their numbers.
I have a big family that largely resemble me. How can they tell between parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins…once, twice removed relatives.
Not at all. But the government has a delicate balancing act to deal with. We want to help our families, but our government majorly screwed up. Big time and now they’re turning to Taiwan for help after ignoring Taiwan for up to 50 years.
The govt is certainly afraid of the Daigous. I don’t think it’s towards foreigners, but they just want it to be traceable. Once it leaves the country, that’s it.
I talked on tax exemption, but I think sending masks to frontline workers is more efficient than sending to random families. If government says they stop providing surgical masks to general public to send them medical people world wide, I’m ok with it as far as they distribute reusable cloth masks.
Aren’t long-term, tax-paying residents part of Taiwan, too? I know in the US (and probably many other western countries), Taiwanese residents are afforded almost the same treatment as citizens except voting rights and certain government jobs.
And yes, I can say it is highly probable, given what I’ve mentioned above, foreign residents of the US would be allowed to send aid home if American citizens are allowed the same privileges.
yes, I think foreign residents should be allowed the same privileges with citizen. So, they should be allowed to send masks to their taiwanese relatives in overseas, at this moment.
Practical point regarding sending masks to other countries: mail systems in some countries are as overwhelmed as the hospital systems.
The much increased number of packages from people staying at home, combined with closures of various parts of the system due to government measures or outbreaks amongst staff are wreaking havoc.
For me personally, this has meant that some fabric masks sent to my parents using EMS express post are still sitting in a logistics facility somewhere. It’s already about 2-3 times the length of time postage would normally take, and there’s no delivery in sight soon. Online search (and admission on the postal service’s website) reveals I’m not an isolated case.
I understand what youre saying. This is an unprecedented circumstance, Taiwan has only managed to recently have enough masks to send out. And it is still limited. The US isn’t isolated and excluded purposefully from international participation and help. In many cases, US is also making unprecedented moves like executive powers directing businesses to fill orders in the US first like 3M.
Couldn’t agree more with your comments. It seem like a big fat FU to the foreign resident community in Taiwan.
I have three direct family members that are front line healthcare providers and I’m seriously concerned about them. One is a 70 year old nurse with a significant medical history. She has been working nonstop 12 hour shifts for weeks. She was only provided with a mask about two weeks ago.
I’m very frustrated that I can’t do anything to help them at this point. For so many years I have tried to explain to them what’s good about Taiwan and why a foreigner would even want to live here. This pretty much leaves me speachless.