Do you think there’s going to be two or three more waves down the line? Is this something we have to live with rather than finding a vaccine? What do you think?

So there were alarm bells for all of you.

How were you able to detect the COVID-19’s capacity for human-to-human transmission? Was it based on what had happened with SARS, or was it the quality investment in scientific method…

I wanted to ask you, there was this lack of global scientific evidence and knowledge about the virus back in December. You intervened early to prevent the spread. I think you banned flights from China in early February, pretty much.

Yeah, and it’s a sense of respect between each other, which is…

Throughout the year? This is not to do with COVID itself, COVID-19? This is just a general way of behaving in…

There are these reports that we don’t actually know how long someone remains infected. There have been reports that it can be much longer than two weeks. We’re not sure on immunization. For you, that two-week lockdown, as such, of the individual, you feel is enough to…

Right, and so you’re very much relying on sort of a decentralized system of inoculation, control. It’s not this system that we’re all struggling with in these countries that are not…

Did you, in 2003, start to adapt that kind of social distancing with transport systems, in schools and work, leisure, environments then, to be aware, or at least implemented specifically and permanently for a future disease outbreak?

This dodge is obviously your wakeup call, which we didn’t have a SARS 2003 epidemic. We’re struggling here with easing out of lockdowns. We’re finding this incredibly difficult to do.

Right, and does that kind of tracking, if you like – not all movement, but that particular circumstance – does that…?

Did you use an app to contact-trace?

Did culture therefore play a part in the sense that, I’ve read that in certain Asian countries there’s a sort of stigma attached to having COVID in the sense that it’s almost like a sign of a lack of personal responsibility. Does that…?

You’re also one of the few countries that didn’t impose a lock-down. My question to you is what was your government’s approach and what measures do you think played that key role in containing the pandemic? How did you do it?

I think recent numbers, figures, are about under 500 cases of infection and around…You know this contrasts hugely with what’s been happening in Europe.

Basically it’s an extraordinary time for everybody but particularly for Taiwan because the world’s eyes have focused in on you in a really positive way. You have been an exemplary model of how to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

I wanted to talk then later a little bit about democracy in Taiwan. I wanted to move onto the future of democracy in general, the future of technology and society, and then your relationship with mainland China. If you’re comfortable with that let’s…

I know you’re very methodical about how you use your time. I do have so many questions that I’ve tried to be disciplined about it. I’m going to give you a picture of how we’re going to piece it, if it’s OK with you. Obviously, we can’t escape the reality ...