TAIPEI, Taiwan – American Jonathan Gropper sees an economic “bubble” barely about to burst. Moroccan Hasnaa Fatehi finds it safe, easy to navigate and lots of exciting things to do. Australian Paul Whiteley came for work and is now staying for work.
They all live in Taiwan, which has avoided most of COVID-19.
Eight months after the World Health Organization declared the deadly disease a global pandemic, with now an international toll of more than 1.3 million people, there are few places – mostly tiny, remote islands South Pacific – where the coronavirus has not spread.
But there are bigger places, such as Taiwan, a bustling tech hub that is home to around 24 million people off the coast of southeast China, where there has been no lockdown or restriction on economic activity, and where people continue to cram into subways and crowds busy shopping streets as if it was still pre-coronavirus times – except for the ubiquitous fever checks, strict rules on wearing face masks and fewer foreign tourists.
COVID-19[FEMALE:[FEMININE:How China defeated the coronavirus. Experts say America couldn’t handle it
“I would have been twiddling my thumbs in Australia,” said Whiteley, 49, event producer. He returned to Taiwan from Melbourne in May after working away from home for several months. Now Whiteley hosts weekly corporate entertainment concerts and children’s programs.
“It was better to come back to where I could operate and do my business freely,” he said.
Taiwan has only recorded 607 cases of the coronavirus this year and seven related deaths, according to Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control. Florida has a slightly smaller population (21.5 million), but has recorded more than 897,000 cases and 17,600 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker.
At the end of last month, Taiwan hit a record 200 days without any national transmission of the disease. The United States recently took a dark step: 250,000 coronavirus deaths.
Can we come?
Such is the allure of this self-contained and relatively COVID-free territory that approvals for certain types of residence permits more than doubled during the year, according to data provided to USA TODAY by the National Development Council, an agency government. who drafts Taiwan’s overall policy and economic development plans.
More than 820 entrepreneur residence permits have been approved this year, for example, up from 358 in 2019. The number of foreign journalists has also increased, while student visas are at the same level as 2018, albeit slightly. decrease compared to last year.
Coronavirus pandemic:Pfizer and Moderna delivered ‘best news yet’ in fight against COVID-19, but USA TODAY vaccine panel warns of logistical challenges
“If I had stayed in British Columbia, (life) would have been a lot more difficult,” said Fatehi, 40, who was born in Morocco but had lived in Canada before coming to Taiwan as part of the a business trip. Fatehi is the founder of a company that helps medical device manufacturers gain regulatory approval for their products. She arrived in Taiwan in January and applied for a three-year entrepreneurial residence permit in Taiwan in May, with the coronavirus pandemic still in its first wave. It was approved five weeks later.
Fatehi said her field – health technology – “was only taking off” in Taiwan and was full of praise for the territory’s handling of the pandemic.
Taiwan closed its borders early on and blocked local transmission of coronaviruses through a combination of rigorous contract tracing, a mandatory 14-day quarantine period for everyone entering from overseas, and almost universal mask wear.
The rules are largely respected. Taiwan, like other countries in parts of Asia, also benefited from its experience dealing with a 2002-2004 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that killed 800 people around the world.
Other countries that have adopted strict coronavirus strategies, such as New Zealand, Singapore and Senegal, have also been successful in keeping infections and deaths at bay.
Senegal’s COVID Quiet Success: 24 hour test results, temperature checks in every store, no mask fight
Gropper, 39, a lawyer, has lived in Taiwan for about a year. He helps manage a list of e-commerce businesses he started while living in Philadelphia. Its flagship service, beerrightnow.com, normally delivers beer to hundreds of businesses in New York City, but the pandemic has reduced orders.
“I made the informed decision to be here, and I don’t regret it,” he said.
Yet Wang Ting-yu, a Taiwanese lawmaker, said it was not just foreign professionals with no apparent connection to Taiwan who arrived in the territory amid the pandemic.
“Their relatives are also applying,” he said, noting that expats love Taiwan for its nationalized health insurance. Those who work in exports are moving to Taiwan to avoid tariffs imposed by China and the United States in a nearly 3-year-old trade dispute. As Taiwan faced a talent shortage, parliament approved a bill in 2017 to grant more visas.
David Chang, founder of Crossroads, a Taipei-based nonprofit organization that hosts networking events for newcomers, said about half of those currently moving to Taiwan have some connection to its diaspora from across the country. -sea and that many of them still have family on the island.
Song Seng Wun, economist at Malaysian bank CIMB’s private banking unit, said Taiwan is a good choice for tech professionals who want to be close to the vast Chinese market, but not in the country. Bureaucracy, intellectual property rights, and politically-tinged interference present potential problems for foreign workers in China.
While the International Monetary Fund predicts a 4.9% drop in GDP for the world and a 4.3% drop for the United States, Taiwan expects its economy to grow 1.6% this year.
COVID-19 spiral crisis:Joe Biden’s first day. What’s his plan, will he do it?
A sparse COVID space isn’t perfect either
But moving to Taiwan is not without its downsides.
Foreign professionals face a protectionist mentality in e-commerce segments such as ridesharing and home-sharing services like Uber and Airbnb. Personal relationships are also important for entering a relatively small market compared to other Asian countries. English proficiency in Taiwan lags behind Hong Kong and Singapore.
Taiwan is consistently one of the most densely populated places on the planet, which means people live so much together in apartment buildings that a neighbor’s footsteps upstairs or roadworks right upstairs people easily master the sound of their own TV.
Residents are worried about the looming threat from China, a political rival that has stepped up aggressive military flights this year around the ocean strait that separates Taiwan from mainland China. Taiwanese academics warn of increased danger if the two governments do not speak to each other. They have not spoken officially since 2016. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan despite its autonomous status since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s.
China has blocked Taiwan’s participation in the assembly of 194 members of the World Health Organization due to the dispute between Taipei and Beijing over its political status.
Analysis: Trump cuts funding to WHO. Experts say we need it more than ever
Yet, for now, for those like Whiteley, this seems like a relative safe haven.
“At the start of the second show, the producers got us all together and told us this might just be our last show, so enjoy every moment,” he recalled his time in Australia when he was involved in a production of the dance drama “Billy Elliot.”
Social distancing rules covered much of the world and hampered entertainment.
Soon after, Whiteley was bound for Taiwan.
