Also, most of the cases in Taiwan were imported from Taiwanese Americans who returned from overseas schools.

Then ofcourse the famous pilot from China.

Taiwanese people have always been comfortable with face masks because of being on scooters and the dust.

they were a China Airlines pilot (i.e. the Taiwan carrier), no?

Definitely hit harder. However, whiöe there was no official lockdown people in Taiwan voluntarily "lockdowned" last summer when they had an outbreak. It hit many local businesses hard and there was no support from the government unlike many western countries that supported businesses that were affected. The duration wasn't super long so the damage was bearable. This is anec data from my friends car repair shop that was affected(no customers for weeks)