Taiwan’s toilet paper crisis might not be a crisis at all. According to heritage.org, “Taiwan’s economic freedom score is 76.6, making its economy the 13th freest in the 2018 Index…”.

This country has made it to important newspaper headlines, because of the toilet paper crisis it is facing. However experts question the real reason the articles are written. After all, “Taiwan is ranked 5th among 43 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is above the regional and world averages.” It seems odd for a developed country like Taiwan to be facing an economic crisis. Toilet paper producers have notified retailers that the price of this basic necessity will increase by about 30%.

“ I think it is really silly, you know I don’t think it is really a big deal at all. A toilet paper shortage is just kind of a funny topic, so it’s hard for me to take it seriously. I don’t think it is something major at all. To me what comes to mind more than anything is that it is another example of how people in the 21st century have a hard time sifting through  what it’s important vs what is not…” stated Andrew Lenington current AP human geography teacher at TCS and former resident of Taiwan.

Other people were surprised when certain papers mentioned toilet paper producers in Taiwan were blaming countries that provided them with raw materials. These being Brazil and Canada, which supposedly have been having internal issues that have affected the industry.

“Wow, so Taiwan is running out of toilet paper, even though it is obviously a first world economy and it has access to imports and all?, that’s shocking…” said Joshua Brown, who currently teaches chemistry and physics in TCS and lived near Taiwan.

Many others refused to believe, news paper headlines and ignored the apparent crisis.

“…Taiwan is in excellent shape, its health care system for example in consistently lotted as one of the best in the world…[Additionally,] Taiwan has amongst the highest currency reserves in the world…and this just came up yesterday(Feb.26) in class…” stated Lenington firmly.