13 Years Research Life in Taiwan and COVID-19
Hiroshi MASUHARA
Chair Professor, Department of Applied Chemistry,
National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan
countries where people can behave freely andselfishly, Taiwan is a rare country that has
succeeded in anti-COVID-19 measures. Theauthor has frequently traveled back and forth
between Japan and Taiwan for the past 13years. When I returned to Taiwan at the endof February this year, and was preparing tostart classes for the new semester, I wassuddenly told, "You can't hold classes orseminars for two weeks after entering
Taiwan." When I went to the hospital about aweek after I arrived in Taiwan, thereceptionist scanned my health insurance
card and immediately said, "It's been lessthan two weeks since you returned to Taiwan
from abroad. Therefore, you cannot see adoctor. Please go home soon.” In Taiwan,insurance card data exchanges link withpassport data. At that time, I lived in a staff
dormitory on campus. A dormitory assistantusually works from 8 am to 5 pm. She takes
a rest on Saturdays and Sundays. However,the university suddenly increased thenumber of assistants, and the assistant
stayed there all day long after Covid-19. It isa quick response. Shortly after the beginningof March, the assistant started measuring
our temperature every morning. If I have nofever, they will give us a small sticker. I put
this on a prominent place on my shirt, andthen I could enter any building in the school,a cafeteria, or a convenience store. If not put,a staff member will measure my temperatureeach time I enter any buildings. One day,when I forgot to measure the temperature

1. Introduction
I have been staying and extending
research on "Optical Force Chemistry at
Solution Surface” in NCTU after I retired
from Osaka University in 2008. Also, I havedevoted a lot of effort to make NCTU more
visible in Science and in Japan. My life andresearch are based on frequent international
travels. However, everything has beenchanging much, and those nice days seem tohave passed away. With COVID-19
spreading all over the world, universities,
academies, their ideals and evaluations arechanging and will change significantly.
Taiwan is now attracting worldwide
attention as a democratic country withminimal COVID-19. The current COVID-19
situation makes me, as a researcher who has
been looking at Japan and Taiwan, think
about the future development of society,customs, universities, and internationalrelations. Fortunately, I would like to takethe opportunity to write about Taiwan's
dynamism in the society, science andtechnology, and academia.

2. The dynamism of Taiwanese society
and its anti-COVID-19 measures
I am writing this manuscript in December
2020. Taiwan has a population of 23 millionpeople, and the number of COVID patients todate is about 760. Among democratic
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strict regulation of daily activities, exercise
events for health are planned. When I told myAmerican friend about this, she said, “YourUniversity is cool.” Regulations have beenrelaxed since summer, but the school shuttle
bus and city bus are not available to people
without masks still in December. The Central
Epidemic Command Center (CECC) of theMinistry of Health and Welfare seems tohave ordered such quick responses to
COVID-19. Mr. Chen Shih-Chung, Ministerof Health and Welfare, Taiwan, held press
conferences many times a day. He became ahero of the time, along with Audrey Tang, 41years old, a digital minister.

and went to the laboratory, I received aconfirmation call from the dormitory.

Photo2

Photo1(Photo1) Stickers that people can get if they are OK with thetemperature check. Colors and numbers change every day.
This system was terminated around May when the safetyof Taiwan was confirmed.

(Photo2) Masks purchased online with health insurance cardand credit card numbers. 9 masks per person per two weeksfor 52 NTD (1 NTD is about 3,5 JPY), delivered to the nearest
convenience store in the school.

The color of the sticker changes every day,so the check is perfect. Photo1 shows acollection of stickers for several weeks. Whileregulations
suchastemperature
measurement, masks (Photo2), and Social
Distance have begun, the iRun campaign torun the campus together once a week also
started. I said “iWalk” and walked around thecampus for two laps, 2.1 kilometers each time.
I participated more than ten times (Photo3),
so I got an iRun T-shirt. In Taiwan, while

I returned to my home in Osaka in midSeptember. After I quarantined at home for
two weeks, I worked for a week and returned
to Taiwan. I experienced a two-weekquarantine life in Hsinchu's apartment again.
By comparing the two quarantine lives inJapan and Taiwan, we can see the differencein the two countries' management systems.
In Japan, people somehow loosely monitor
each other. And it is mainly due to selfregulation that comes from the national
character of hating to bother others. Taiwan,2entered Taiwan smoothly. When I picked up
my luggage and went outside, an officer led
me to a quarantine taxi stand. Here, anofficer disinfected not only the big baggage
but also all clothes and the soles of shoes. The
Taiwanese government paid a little less thanhalf the quarantine taxi fare. Arriving infront of the apartment, I went straight to myroom and started a two-week quarantine life.

on the other hand, is taking dynamic
organizational measures. When I returned toJapan from Taiwan, I went to Taiwan
Taoyuan Airport. At the time of departure, it
was no difference from usual. Of course, theJapanese can return to Japan without anyproblems. Taiwan is not a dangerous area, sothe Japanese government does not request us
anything before departure. After arriving at
Kansai International Airport, I lined up for a
PCR test using saliva and waited for theresults. Two hours after landing, I finishedeverything I had to do, and I could go outside.
Arrived people are told not to use public
transport, but no one manages it. I had anacquaintance pick me up. Every day from thenext morning, the Ministry of Health, Laborand Welfare returnee follow-up staff asked
questions on the app and inquiries by phone.
My interaction with them lasted for twoweeks. However, how you actually act isentirely up to your personal conscience.
On the other hand, when I returned toTaiwan, the person who had an Alien
Residence Certificate did not need a PCR testin advance, so I went to Kansai International
Airport without doing anything. At the sametime as showing my passport at the check-in
counter, an airline officer asked me to open
the LINE on my smartphone, download theTaiwanese Quarantine Electronic Report
Certificate, and enter my personal
information in it. When I arrived at Taiwan
Taoyuan Airport, the airport officer asked meto connect my smartphone to the internet.
Looking at the line on my smartphone, I had
already received a “CIVID 19 Health
Declaration and Home Quarantine Notice”
and a “Health Declaration Certificate”. I
showed this to the airport officer andproceeded to the quarantine station, andPhoto3(Photo3) Every Wednesday, between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30
p.m., you can get a stamp for every 2.1 km, and if you
participate 10 times, you can get a T-shirt with "iRun" on it. I
received two stamps at a time. I got two stamps at a time,i.e. 4.2km at a time, but I enjoyed the iWalk, not the iRun.

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The next day, I started to report my healthstatus to CECC every morning at 10:00 am
on LINE. Meanwhile, a foreign affairs policeofficer in Hsinchu City sent me her
identification on LINE and asked me to send
my passport photo on LINE. That morning,
two female police officers came to my roomwith a grocery set distributed by thegovernment (Photo4), which is useful forquarantine life. They took a picture of my facefrom outside the door. They also asked me tofill out a health status form and send it tothem every day. Every afternoon I wrote on
the form that there was no change in myhealth status, took a picture of it, and sent it
on LINE. The officer in charge was a woman,and each time I sent it, I received a thank you
response with a cute stamp. It was a relaxing
moment. A week later, halfway through thequarantine period, the CECC and the foreign
affairs police officer called me to confirm myhealth status and then came to my houseagain to take another face shott. They werevery kind, and I was glad to have someone totalk to for a moment during the quarantine.
After two weeks, I was able to get out of myroom. However, I still needed to spend one
more week before I go to the university.
During this week, I could not have anyclasses or seminars. The university has beenvery thorough in its response. The Taiwanese
government has prepared such responses
based on its experience during the severe
pneumonia SARS epidemic of 2002-2003.
During the quarantine, I felt stressed thatthe government was monitoring me andrestricting my behavior. However, I could feel
their compassion. I was strongly impressedby the Taiwanese government's dynamic andproactive management for COVID-19, as wellas the Taiwanese community's willingness tocooperate.

3. COVID-19 will change the researchworld, and a generational shift isunderway
Local wars, terrorism, earthquakes,
typhoons, floods put people's lives in danger
and severely damage their surroundings. The
damage, however, is still limited to the peopleinvolved. COVID-19 is experienced by theentire world simultaneously. In almost every
country in the world, people are stopping
traveling and visiting simultaneously, losing
their jobs simultaneously, people's research
activities are stopping simultaneously,
schools are changing to online classes at thesame time. It is happening all over the world
at the same time, and everyone isexperiencing it simultaneously. And theeconomy is getting worse, companies arelosing money, and the country's income isdecreasing. Suppose this situation continues
for a few years longer. In that case, I believethat society, economy, population, technology,
academia, and universities will suffer thesame level of severe damage as in World War
II. After the end of World War II, ourgeneration grew up hearing people say, "Igrew up before the war, so…”, “I grew up
during the war, so…” or “I grew up after thewar, so...". In the same way, after 20 years, wewill probably hear the same lines. "I grew up
before COVID-19, so…”, “I grew up during
COVID-19, so…”, or “I grew up after COVID19, so...". I think we are at such a significant
turning point in time. What will happen tochemical research then? I will try toremember the old days.
Before and for a while after World War II,people said that chemical research was a4

situation also gave me the experience ofdouble funding. Later, I promoted Double
Degree programs with the Katholieke
Universiteit of Leuven in Belgium, Saitama
University, and Nara Institute of Science andTechnology in Japan, etc. Besides, I believethat Double Appointment should be realized.
In Taiwan, NCTU has established thedeepest and most extensive researchcollaboration with Japanese universities.1)
Many young Japanese people have worked
here at NCTU for a few years. They havetaken their experience as a career path2) toreturn to their universities in Japan todevelop their research. I have invited many
Japanese professors to Taiwan, set up
summer courses in collaboration withJapan's Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(Kakenhi), and offered a research school forJapanese graduate students.3) I have also
recommended young Taiwanese professors tobe invited to international conferences andlaboratory seminars in Japan. In the past fewyears, about 130 students from Super Science
High School in Japan have been visiting
NCTU every year for overseas study. We havemade NCTU more visible in Japan.4) I
attended as many meetings in Japan as I
could from Taiwan as if I were coming toTokyo or Sapporo from Osaka. The flight fromTaiwan to Osaka only takes a little over twohours. The flight time is comparable to theflight time from Osaka to Sapporo. But thatstill takes time, so I have been trying to buytime by living in campus housing andworking on weekends. However, myinternationalization strategy is no longer
possible with COVID-19.

study of experience. However, that changed
dramatically with World War II. The elders
quickly lost their power, and up-and-coming
young professors in their thirties began toemerge. Chemical research was transformed
into a logical discipline based on quantum
mechanics. However, on further reflection,
the logic of the discipline was not changed by
the war. It was always in that trend. WorldWar II seems to have been the catalyst for agreat acceleration of that trend not only inJapan but also in Europe and the UnitedStates. Now let's consider the future ofchemistry research by analogy. I think that
COVID-19 will realize what I have predicted
about the future development of chemistry.
COVID-19 will accelerate the trend ofacademics, and there will be a great leap
forward. People say that one of them is AIbased chemical research after COVID-19.
Just as there was a shift from the chemistryof experience before the war to the chemistryof quantum mechanics-based logic after thewar, I predict that main stream of chemistryresearch will move toward AI-based studies
after COVID-19.
On the other hand, how will COVID-19
change the international collaborative
research system, which is especially essential
for basic research in Taiwan. After World WarII, the internationalization of research has
been a consistent trend that can neverreverse. I also think so and have worked hardto develop my research life in such a way andto accelerate it in Taiwan. I started myresearch in Taiwan in 2008. During the next
three years, I also had a laboratory at Nara
Institute of Science and Technology. The
simultaneous pursuit of overlapping topics inTaiwan and Japan has been very effective inboth research and graduate education. ThisAs long as the current situation does not
return to what it was before COVID-19, mymodel for the existing internationalization
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great mechanism. Although Japan is ademocratic country and people are serious
about obeying the law, the situation changes
during the debate about how to do it fairly,
equally, and without fail. Their measuresoften fall behind. Fortunately, therelationship is so strong in Japanese societythat the situation is never the worst. In
Taiwan, society changes quickly. Taiwanesesociety is capable of quickly detecting changes
in circumstances. Those in authority are also
always sensitive to change and have thedynamism to take action ahead of time. As aJapanese researcher, I will keep a close eye on
the development of Taiwanese society andTaiwanese science and technology during andafter COVID-19.

before COVID-19 will not be viable. Even if
COVID-19 disappears in a few years, society,academia, universities, and research
conditions will not retrieve the former state.
Predicting post-war society during WorldWar II would have been difficult. Also,
Predicting and preparing for post-COVID-19
research and education in the midst of
COVID-19 is not easy. For the time being,people have no choice but to get through thissituation by having discussions and meetings
in Zoom. But in this way, people can not domore than keep their existing relationships.
There are master students who can onlyexperience
presentations
online.
Unfortunately, I can not give them the realityof an international conference. They will join
the company next summer without any realexperience of attending international
conferences and start manufacturing online
or doing business online. After all, we cannot
raise a child online. Research and education
cannot be done online forever. As long as I amin Taiwan, I want to continue to try tounderstand what Taiwanese dynamism isand prepare for post-COVID-19.

Another significant world change that hascome to be understood by the coronavirus
epidemic has a lot to do with Taiwan's choice.
Taiwan has many science parks around thecountry. The oldest and most famous is theHsinchu Science Park. Among them are theNCTU, National Tsing Hua University,National Synchrotron Radiation ResearchCenter, National Center for Highperformance Computing, and Taiwan
Instrument Research Institute. In this aspect,
the Hsinchu Science Park is similar to theTsukuba Science Park. The difference is that
TaiwanSemiconductor
Manufacturing
Company, Ltd., and other leading Taiwaneseelectronics companies have not only theirlaboratories but also manufacturing plants.
We can learn about the latest global trends inscience and technology at the Science Park in
Hsinchu.5) Why? Taiwan is basically in linewith the U.S. global strategy in science andtechnology. In the 80s, IBM stopped
manufacturing personal computers bythemselves. After that, the United States

4. What COVID-19 suggests
Taiwan has succeeded in minimizing thedamage of COVID-19 while protecting its freedemocratic society. At first, I thought it was
just a success against infectious diseases. As
time passed, it has turned out to be aremarkable success in Taiwanese society.
Needless to say, Taiwan is a free society witha democratic rule of law. However, I thinkthat democracy in Taiwan is different fromthe liberalism of southern Europe, wherepeople oppose the lockdown and say, " I wantto go out for dinner or a drinking party atnight ". In Taiwan, there seems to be some6

decided to manufacture their hearts in theUnited States, their peripherals in Taiwan,and assemble them in China. In Taiwan, theHsinchu Science Park was responsible for
manufacturing the peripherals for personal
computers. Since then, Taiwan's electronics
industry has developed dramatically andsurpassed Japan's. Nowadays, there is a
global competition for 5G dominance, AItechnology, and internet technology. Looking
at the United States' recent global strategic
measures, I feel that "something"reminiscent of the United States' decisions inthe 80s is going on in the United States underthe current COVID situation. The
reconfiguration of the supply chain is an
example of "something" that is easy for us tounderstand.

References
1) Yuan-Pern Lee, 40th Anniversary Book ofDepartment of Applied Chemistry, NCTU,111-115, 20192) Maki Kawai, ”Passport to an international
career - True globalism”, The Chemical
Society of Japan, Chemistry, and IndustrialChemistry, 64, 763-765, 2011
3) Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on
Innovative Areas, MEXT, Japan "NanoMaterial Manipulation and Structural Order
Control with Optical Forces", News Letter
Special Issue, ”Masuhara Summer Course &Workshop”, 20174) laser Bio-Nano Science Laboratory,
Department of Applied Chemistry, NCTU,
Research Activity Report, 20185) 30th Anniversary Book of Hsinchu SciencePark, The Hsinchu Science Park. Taiwan
2010

I have written about my thoughts while
comparing the experiences in Japan andTaiwan under the COVID-19 epidemic,
which is comparable to the devastation byWorld War II. In the era of significant
changes caused by COVID-19, the sooner wedetect and respond to them, the better ourchances of survival after COVID-19. I hopethat the flexible nature and the academics ofNCTU will create a new path suitable for thepost-COVID-19 era and take the leadershipof the post-COVID-19 world as quickly aspossible.

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Photo4(Photo 4) Those who enter Taiwan must be quarantined at home or in a designated hotel for two weeks. If they stepout of the quarantine area, they can be fined between 350,000 and 3.5 million JPY On the first day of quarantine,
two female policewomen of the Hsinchu City Foreign Affairs Police geve me this bag and took my mug shot. Fromleft to right: garbage bag, thermometer, face mask. From top right: canned foods, drip coffees, crackers, retort pouch
curry and Instant noodles

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