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中国語で得られる情報量の違い

新型コロナウイルス 感染の抑え込みで、台湾の強さが世界的に注目されている。台湾はなぜコロナに強いのか。日本との比較を中心に考察してみたい。

まず第一に、中国語による情報獲得の強さが挙げられる。中国政府は当初、新型ウイルスの発生に関する情報を出し渋ったが、武漢市、湖北省から、SNSなどを通じて個人による外部への情報発信は行われていた。そうした中国語による情報をリアルタイムで受け取っていたのが、台湾、香港などの中国語圏だ。結果的に、台湾、マカオ、シンガポールといった中国語圏で、ウイルスに対する封じ込めが最も早く起動した。

対する日本では政府、マスメディアとも、中国語による情報を日常的に受信し、分析する人材が圧倒的に不足している。公衆衛生を含めた安全保障の観点からしても、せめてCNNやBBCを日々チェックするのと同じレベルで、中国語メディアに触れられる人材を増やす必要が大いにある。

次に台湾は2003年のSARS禍を経験し、新型ウイルスの怖さを、政府も市民も身に染みて理解していた。香港の場合、特別行政区政府は圧倒的に中国寄りで、ウイルスから市民を守る政策を即時にとることができなかったが、それでも感染拡大が相当程度抑えられたのは、SARSの怖さを人々が記憶していて、自発的に予防的行動をとれたからである。

これに対し、当初、日本のメディアでは、「インフルエンザ程度」「正しく恐れることが大事」といった言説が多く流れ、結果的に国民に警戒感を持たせることができなかったことは、衆目の一致するところだろう。

第三に、日々中国からの統一圧力を受けている台湾では、官民とも「中国に気を許してはいけない」という意識が明確にある。特に蔡英文総統率いる民進党政権になって以降、中国からの観光客制限、友好国の切り崩し、国際機関への参加妨害などに加え、メディアの買収、フェイクニュースの流布など、あの手この手の攻撃を受けている。そのため、新型ウイルスの「生物兵器説」も、台湾では噂話のレベルにとどまらず、事実かもしれないという感覚で受け止められた。

同時に、台湾では、中国に故郷を持つ人、仕事で行き来している人も多く、心情的親中派も少なくない。このように中国の存在が生々しく感じられる中、蔡英文政権は、最初期に中国からの入境禁止、マスク輸出の禁止といった厳しい政策をとり、「台湾ファースト」の姿勢を明確に打ち出した。

同じ頃、日本では、武漢など中国各地に向けて大量のマスクや医療物資を贈る動きが見られた。漢詩で近隣友好の気持ちを表現したことで、中国社会から高く評価されもした。しかし、ウイルス感染がすぐに日本にまで広がってくることは明らかだったのだ。中国語圏の人たちから見れば、日本人のふるまいは、残念ながら、大変ナイーブに映ったと言わざるを得ない。

マスクの重要性を知っていた

第四に、マスク問題をめぐっても台湾と日本の間には大きな差があった。SARS禍を経験している台湾や香港では、官民ともにマスク着用が感染予防に役立つという確信を持っている。これは例えばSARS禍の際、ベトナムの医療団が「ウイルスを密閉して外に出すな」という国際常識とは反対に「病室の窓を開けて換気をよくする」ことで感染を抑え込んだ経験につながる。

つまり、欧米とアジアの間には、風土の差、文化の違いが事実として存在する。よって、欧米の常識をそのままアジアに持ってきたところで、必ずしも通用しない。しかし日本社会はむしろWHOの意見や欧米人の振る舞いを信じて、マスクの重要性をなかなか理解できなかった。

 

現在のWHOが、事務局長以下、中国寄りのスタンスをとり、結果的に新型ウイルスの封じ込めに失敗したことは明らかだ。しかし、国連機関であるWHOに対して、日本政府を初め多くの日本人は幻想に近い信頼感を持ち続け、アジアの隣人たちの機敏な動きを参考にできていない。

台湾は1970年代に国連代表権を中国に奪われてこのかた、WHOへの正式な参加を認められてこなかった。主に中国の反対によるものだが、WHOに対する不信感、裏切られたとの思いも台湾にはある。それがWHOに対する日本の幻想とは正反対に、現実的な判断を可能にしたとすれば皮肉だ。

台湾政府は当初からマスクの重要性を認識し、各家庭に行き渡らせるため、具対的な施策をおこなった。昨年まで、台湾でもマスクの多くを中国からの輸入に頼っていたが、今年に入って中台間の往来を制限すると、即座に国内の在庫や生産分を政府の管理下に置いた。そして、国内の製造業者に対し、他分野からの参入によって、マスク生産ラインを増やすよう協力を求めたのである。

 

同時に、限られた数のマスクを公平に配分し、高値での転売などを防ぐため、マスクは政府指定の薬局でのみ販売するものとし、さらに購入に際しては、保険証を提示するという「実名購買制度」が導入された。

この制度が機能したのは、台湾で国民皆保険制度が確立し、保険証がICカード化されたためだ。そして、台湾全島の指定薬局にそれぞれ何枚のマスクが在庫としてあるかを瞬時にスマホで見ることができるシステムを急遽導入できたのは、天才プログラマーとして名高いIT担当の唐鳳（オードリー・タン）大臣が自ら提案し、実行に移したからだ。

 

蔡英文総統の胆力

タン大臣のような天才は世界でも稀ではあろうが、日本にだって恐らくは存在していることだろう。しかし、中学中退の元有名ハッカーで30代、しかもトランスジェンダーであることを公言している人物をIT担当大臣に任命する、そうした政治的決断を行えるトップは、残念ながら日本には存在しない。

その意味では蔡英文総統のリーダーシップと胆力は際立ったものがあり、ウイルス対策がうまくいった大きな要因だと言える。

新型ウイルスの前に、台湾が国際的に注目を浴びたのは、2019年にアジアで初めて同性婚を合法化した際だった。これでリベラルな台湾というイメージが一気に広がったが、必ずしも台湾社会全体が日本などと比べて格段にリベラルだというわけではない。儒教に基づく保守的な考え方、キリスト教に基づく厳格な態度等もあり、投票結果を見ても、同性婚に対する賛成と反対はほぼ拮抗していた。

しかし蔡英文総統は、自身の価値観というよりも、同性婚を合法化することが台湾の国際的イメージの向上に役立つという政治的判断で動いた。その結果、世界中の新聞やネットニュースに台湾という名前がポジティブなイメージとともに登場し、それによって、台湾の人々の自尊感情と政権への支持率をともに高めたのである。

 

2000年に台湾史上初の政権交代で、国民党から政権を奪った民進党は、2008年の総統選では国民党に敗北して下野。2016年に再度勝利したものの、2018年の統一地方選では大敗するなど、決して平坦な道を歩んできたわけではなかった。2018年秋に高雄市の市長に選ばれた国民党所属の韓国瑜氏は、中国寄りの政治的スタンスと庶民的なキャラクターで驚くほどの人気を集め、今年1月の総統選挙では、高雄市長のまま、国民党代表候補として出馬した。


Differences in the amount of information obtained in Chinese

Taiwan's strength is gaining worldwide attention due to the suppression of the new coronavirus infection. Why is Taiwan strong against corona? I would like to consider mainly the comparison with Japan.

First of all, the strength of information acquisition in Chinese is important. Initially, the Chinese government was reluctant to provide information about the outbreak of the new virus, but individuals from Wuhan City and Hubei Province transmitted information externally through SNS and other means. The Chinese-speaking countries such as Taiwan and Hong Kong received such information in Chinese in real time. As a result, virus containment was the earliest in Chinese-speaking countries such as Taiwan, Macau and Singapore.

In Japan, on the other hand, both the government and the mass media are overwhelmingly short of human resources to receive and analyze information in Chinese on a daily basis. From a security perspective, including public health, there is a great need to increase the number of people who can access Chinese media at the same level as daily checking of CNN and BBC.

Next, Taiwan experienced the SARS disaster of 2003, and both the government and citizens understood the fear of the new virus. In Hong Kong, the SAR government was overwhelmingly leaning toward China and could not immediately take measures to protect citizens from the virus, but the spread of infection was still considerably reduced because of the fear of SARS. Because he remembered and took preventive action voluntarily.

Taipei on March 20. [PHOTO] Gettyimages Most People Wear Masks

On the other hand, it was widely accepted that Japanese media initially had many discourses such as "flu level" and "it is important to be afraid correctly", and as a result, the public could not be alerted. By the way.

Third, in Taiwan, which is under unified pressure from China on a daily basis, there is a clear sense that both the public and private sectors must not "pay attention to China." In particular, since the administration of the Democratic Party led by President Tsai Ing-wen, China has been subject to such attacks as restricting tourists from China, cutting down friendly nations, hindering participation in international organizations, acquiring media, and disseminating fake news. I have. Therefore, the new virus "biological weapon theory" was accepted in Taiwan as if it were not just a gossip level but a fact.

At the same time, in Taiwan, there are many people who have their hometowns in China, who come and go for work, and there are not a few emotional pro-Chinese. Despite the vivid sense of China's presence, the Tsai Ing-wen administration stipulated a "Taiwan-first" stance clearly in the early stages of its strict policies, such as banning entry from China and banning the export of masks.

At the same time, there was a movement in Japan to send large amounts of masks and medical supplies to Wuhan and other parts of China. Expressing the feelings of neighborhood friendship in Chinese poetry was also highly appreciated by Chinese society. However, it was clear that the virus would soon spread to Japan. Unfortunately, from the Chinese speaking perspective, the Japanese behavior is, unfortunately, very naive.

Knew the importance of masks

Fourth, there was a big difference between Taiwan and Japan over the mask problem. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, which are experiencing SARS, both the public and private sectors are convinced that wearing a mask can help prevent infection. This is, for example, in the case of SARS disaster, the experience that the Vietnamese medical team suppressed infection by `` opening the window of the sick room and improving ventilation '' contrary to international common sense that `` Do not seal the virus and go outside '' Leads to.

In other words, there are differences in culture and culture between Europe, the United States and Asia. Therefore, bringing the common sense of Europe and the United States to Asia as it is does not always apply. However, Japanese society did not readily understand the importance of masks, believing in the opinion of WHO and the behavior of Westerners.

It is clear that the current WHO has taken a more pro-China stance below the Secretary-General and, as a result, failed to contain the new virus. However, many Japanese people, including the Japanese government, have a near-illusionary credibility with WHO, a UN agency, and have failed to refer to the agile movements of Asian neighbors.

Taiwan was deprived of China's representation in the 1970s by China, and has not been allowed to formally participate in WHO. Mainly due to Chinese opposition, Taiwan has some distrust of WHO and beliefs that it has been betrayed. It is ironic if it allows for realistic judgment, contrary to the Japanese illusion against WHO.

From the beginning, the Taiwanese government recognized the importance of masks and took concrete measures to spread them to households. Until last year, Taiwan relied heavily on imports of masks from China, but restricting traffic between China and Taiwan this year immediately put domestic stocks and production under government control. He urged domestic manufacturers to increase mask production lines by entering other fields.

At the same time, in order to distribute a limited number of masks fairly and to prevent resale at high prices, masks shall be sold only at pharmacies designated by the government, and upon purchase, insurance cards will be presented at the time of `` real name purchase '' System was introduced.

People line up at pharmacies to receive masks (Taipei, March 18) [PHOTO] Gettyimages

This system worked because the universal insurance system was established in Taiwan and insurance cards were converted to IC cards. Audrey Tan, a famous genius programmer in charge of IT, was able to quickly introduce a system that could instantly see how many masks were in stock at designated pharmacies on all islands in Taiwan. The ministry proposed it and took action.

President Tsai Ing-wen's courage

Geniuses like Minister Tan are rare in the world, but perhaps even in Japan. Unfortunately, there is no leader in Japan who can make such a political decision, appointing a former famous hacker who dropped out of junior high school, who is in the 30s, and who claims to be transgender as IT Minister.

In that sense, President Tsai Ing-wen's leadership and courage are outstanding, and it can be said that antivirus measures have been a major factor in its success.

President Tsai Ing-wen (PHOTO) Gettyimages

Before the new virus, Taiwan gained international attention when it first legalized gay marriage in Asia in 2019. This broadened the image of a liberal Taiwan, but it did not mean that the whole Taiwanese society was much more liberal than Japan and other countries. With conservative attitudes based on Confucianism and strict attitudes based on Christianity, the results of the voting showed that the pros and cons of gay marriage were almost the same.

However, President Tsai Ing-wen moved more on his political decision that legalizing gay marriage, rather than his own values, would help to enhance Taiwan's international image. As a result, the name Taiwan has appeared in newspapers and online news around the world with a positive image, thereby increasing both the self-esteem of Taiwanese people and the approval of the government.

The Democratic Party, which took control of the KMT in 2000 with the first change of government in the history of Taiwan in 2000, was defeated by the KMT in the 2008 presidential election, and it was Shimono. Although he won again in 2016, he did not follow a flat road, losing a lot in the unified regional election in 2018. Mr. Yu, a member of the KMT, who was elected mayor of Kaohsiung City in the fall of 2018, gained amazing popularity for its political stance and popular characters prone to China, and remained the mayor of Kaohsiung in the January election this January. Ran as a KMT candidate.

Tsai Ing-wen, who ran for the sake of re-election is, initially, had been made to stand in the inferior of the more even the difficulty in obtaining the candidate qualifications of the Democratic Progressive Party, 2019 early, "one against Xi Jinping Jintao of China is Taiwan When we proposed the Two-Country System, we immediately expressed a clear opposition, which drastically changed the direction of the wind. A few months later, large-scale demonstrations and anti-government movements in Hong Kong, which was already under a "one country, two system," provided further tailwinds.

Experts in ministers

Seemingly sober character Tsai Ing-wen President, but the politician with the courage of the Xi Jinping Jintao of China only not scared by turning it over there, WHO is not foolish, also much in the place that overlooks the world. Corona virus of Japan, considering that was late for the visit to Japan scheduled for Mr. Olympics and Xi Jinping, will it can be said that the difference of Higa is outstanding here.

Born in 1956, Tsai Ing-wen was a scholar and was involved in politics because he was involved in policy toward China under former President Lee Tung-hui during the KMT administration. He became a member of the legislature, a member of parliament under the DPJ Chen Shui-bian administration, and was elected President of the DPJ in 2008 during the opposition era. She is from a Taiwanese provincial (Southern Hakka) family and her grandmother is from the Paiwan tribe, one of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan.

The businessman's father had four wives, but English grew up as the youngest of eleven children. After graduating from the Faculty of Law of Taiwan University (formerly Taipei Imperial University), which was one of the former Imperial Universities, studied abroad in the United States and earned a Master of Laws from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics to the UK. doing.

Lives with a very educated woman and a single cat. It is a new generation of Democrats born out of the rebel movement during the martial law era, and in addition to the above-mentioned Minister Tan, has invited many experts from the private sector to ministers and key posts. This is very different in institutional and political culture from Japan, which mainly elects cabinet members to balance among Liberal Democratic Party factions among members of the Diet.

For example, Deputy Governor Chen Jianren is a public health expert from Taiwan University's School of Medicine, and even served as Deputy Director of the Central Research Institute, Taiwan's premier academic institution. In the wake of the SARS disaster in 2003, he was invited to the head of the Health Service (which is the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare) and was involved in fighting infection, deepening his relationship with politics. He remains as a Vice President candidate without a party and continues to the present. There is no doubt that he has demonstrated great power in the implementation of the new virus countermeasures.

Deputy President Kenji Chen (right) [PHOTO] Gettyimages

Mr. Chen, a deputy director of the Japanese government's administrative office, is also a physician. During his graduate school at the Faculty of Medicine of Taiwan University, he received a master's degree in public health under the guidance of the current Deputy President Chen Jianjin. In addition, at a press conference that is broadcast live every day, Chief of Health Chen Zhongzhong, who represents the government and carefully explains the situation of the virus, is a dentist and was deeply involved in establishing a health insurance system as a director of the medical association. Have a career.

"If Mr. Shinto Goto was alive ..."

Such a form of placing advanced experts at the top of administrative bodies and entrusting both practical and political judgments is based on the presidential system, but also because Tsai Ing-wen himself has a very high educational background. It would be one.

In particular, it is willing to promote the use of IT.In addition to utilizing IC insurance cards, it is also possible to check the location of smartphones for the voluntary isolation of returnees overseas. We do not hesitate to take measures that may be regarded as problematic from the viewpoint of such factors.

Also, from the grassroots democratization movement, in the sense of being a female politician selected from the academic world, it has the part that led to the former Socialist Party Chairman Takai Doi, which caused the "Otakasan boom" in Japan in the 1980s.

In any case, the only thing that Taiwan has gained in the world's attention due to the new virus is the democratization of the long-standing dictatorship of the Kuomintang under the refugee government and democracy. There is no doubt that there is a political, social, and cultural background of Taiwan, which is steadily building a nation-state, despite feeling the pressure of the growing China every day.

Taiwanese people are watching the response of the Japanese government and society starting with the Diamond Princess this time through abundant news channels, and in some cases, even more deeply than Japanese. This is because of the history of Japanese rule of Taiwan dating back to the end of the 19th century.

It is widely known that Shinpei Goto, a physician and politician in particular, traveled to Taiwan just after ceding as Taiwan's chief of civil affairs and made a successful contribution to improving public health. Therefore, a Taiwanese person who saw the Japanese government's response to this coronavirus said on social media, "What would you say if Shingo Goto was alive?"