A whole-of-nation approach to COVID-19: Taiwan’s National Epidemic Prevention Team
| Author | Chih-Wei Hsieh,Lawrence Ka-ki Ho,Natalie WM Wong,Mao Wang |
| DOI | 10.1177/01925121211012291 |
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121211012291
International Political Science Review
2021, Vol. 42(3) 300 –315
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/01925121211012291
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A whole-of-nation approach to
COVID-19: Taiwan’s National
Epidemic Prevention Team
Chih-Wei Hsieh
Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Mao Wang
Graduate Institute of Public Affairs, National Taiwan University
Natalie WM Wong
Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Lawrence Ka-ki Ho
Department of Social Sciences, Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Abstract
This article analyzes Taiwan’s National Epidemic Prevention Team, a collective synergy between government
and society in fighting COVID-19. We draw on a model of collaborative governance to dissect the
collaboration between National Epidemic Prevention Team members; that is, central government, local
governments, private enterprises and citizens. We argue that the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS) outbreak, democratic deepening and continual diplomatic isolation despite the global health crisis
contributed to Taiwan’s National Epidemic Prevention Team capacity and cohesiveness. Our analysis
contributes to the heated discourse on democratic resilience in these turbulent times, suggesting that
outbreak control can succeed only if there is an integrated system of interdepartmental, central–local,
intersectoral and citizen–state collaboration. Overall, this article shows how liberal democracies can control
and counteract COVID-19 without resorting to authoritarian methods of containment.
Keywords
Collaborative governance, democratic resilience, epidemic control, whole-of-government approach,
whole-of-society approach, COVID-19
Corresponding author:
Mao Wang, Graduate Institute of Public Affairs, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd, Taipei, 10617.
Email: maowang01@gmail.com
1012291IPS0010.1177/01925121211012291International Political Science ReviewHsieh et al.
research-article2021
Special Issue: The Political Ramifications of COVID 19
Hsieh et al. 301
Introduction
How to forge collaboration between government and society against coronavirus disease (COVID-
19) has become a conundrum for liberal democracies during the global health crisis. Many authori-
tarian regimes have shown great success in curbing the outbreak by enforcing oppressive measures,
such as stringent lockdowns and mass surveillance. Despite mounting concerns over these contain-
ment methods due to their threat to civil liberties and fundamental freedoms (Thomson and Ip,
2020), various democracies have leaned towards authoritarianism in their efforts to stop COVID-
19 (Guasti, 2020; see also Abulof et al., 2021). For example, Israel and South Korea have deployed
contact-tracing applications or surveillance camera footage to control the chain of infection at the
expense of personal privacy. Is it true that authoritarianism is the ideal solution to save lives? Are
there any good examples of democratic governance from which others can learn to balance public
health and individual rights without resorting to intrusive interventions? Driven by the desire to
discover ways to build democratic resilience against COVID-19, we evaluate the model of collabo-
rative governance deployed in Taiwan.
Taiwan is a consolidating democracy that is geographically proximate to China, the initial epi-
center of COVID-19; there are hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese citizens working in China
while Taiwan attracts millions of Chinese tourists every year.1 The self-ruled island was thus
regarded as a high-risk region for COVID-19 infection (Gardner, 2020). When the first confirmed
case was reported on 21 January 2020, many expected the island to face an uphill battle in contain-
ing this infectious disease. However, Taiwan has been successful in containing COVID-19, at least
for now. According to Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking, Taiwan was once ranked second
worldwide, trailing only New Zealand (Chang, 2020). By late February 2021, the numbers of
reported cases and deaths in Taiwan were significantly lower than those in most countries and
regions worldwide (see Figure 1). Most importantly, Taiwan is a case that has demonstrated that
effective prevention and containment of COVID-19 can be achieved without the excessive use of
intrusive interventions that upend daily life. Figure 2 presents the stringency index of countries
since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The index is a product of the Oxford COVID-19
Government Response Tracker developed by researchers of the University of Oxford designed to
measure how stringent a government’s anti-COVID-19 responses2 are (Hale et al., 2020). As evi-
denced by Figure 2, the all-time global average index score is 53.4. Yet that of Taiwan is just 24.7
and has been consistently low since February 2020. As an example of Taiwan’s moderate approach,
there have not yet been any community lockdowns or school or workplace closures.
The effective containment of COVID-19 in Taiwan has been analyzed and discussed in the lit-
erature. Many researchers attribute the self-ruled island’s success to its strong state capacity in
enacting and promulgating preventive and control measures (An and Tang, 2020; Huang, 2020;
Lee, 2020; Lin, Cheryl et al., 2020; Su and Han, 2020; see also Mao, 2021). Although these discus-
sions have shed light on Taiwan’s anti-COVID-19 approach, they often acknowledge political
executives without recognizing how community stakeholders have helped the central government
tackle this public health crisis. As many democratic counterparts struggle to build resilience against
the pandemic, we need a holistic perspective that shows comprehensively what Taiwan, from top
to bottom, has done to fight the virus.
This article ascribes Taiwan’s anti-COVID-19 performance to a collective synergy between the
central government, local governments, private enterprises and citizens, referred to as the National
Epidemic Prevention Team (NEPT). The NEPT has become a political slogan for Taiwan’s top
officials and is frequently mentioned in government press releases and media coverage.3 To pro-
vide a quick insight into the NEPT, we may liken it to a sports team of which the central govern-
ment is the leader, and community stakeholders, who also have their own important roles, are
members. While the leader is responsible for designing strategies and guiding members to move in
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