Letters | Coronavirus outbreak: Don’t blame Taiwan for export ban on face masks

Taiwanese celebrities Dee Hsu and Christine Fan have been slammed on social media for criticising the Taiwan government’s temporary ban on the export of specialised face masks. They thought that such a move was inhumane in view of the great demand in China, which is reeling from an outbreak of the deadly new Wuhan coronavirus, and suspected that the decision was wholly political.

In 2013, then chief executive Leung Chun-ying announced his new export control measure for milk formula, whereby cross-border travellers could not carry more than two tins of powder formula when leaving the city. The idea was to ensure that there would be enough supply for our children and to curb parallel trading. The Taiwan government is just doing the same thing to protect their citizens.

Furthermore, if the Taiwan government did not control the export of masks, their price may have surged dramatically due to panic buying and shortages. This is already happening in Tokyo and has been reported in Hong Kong.