President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has initiated an online challenge, asking people to post on social media images of the book they most recently purchased and buy more books to support the local publishing sector.

The president's online campaign was posted with the hashtag #po一本你最近買的書challenge (post a book you recently bought challenge).

"Although this is the second year there has been no physical book fair," Tsai wrote in her Facebook and Instagram posts on Monday. "We should still buy and read books to support Taiwan's free and diversified publishing sector."

Tsai's social media posts were made on the day the 2021 Taipei International Book Exhibition, a trade and consumer show for publishers in Taiwan, should have started in person.

However, the event organizer decided on Jan. 20 to hold only the online part of the exhibition, after health authorities confirmed 10 domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases linked to a hospital cluster in Taoyuan.

As of Wednesday, 15 cases have been linked to the cluster.

Considering the ongoing fight against COVID-19, Tsai said buying and reading books is a good way to spend time at home and avoid going to crowded places, with the week-long Lunar New Year holiday set to take place in mid-February.

The president also posted a photo of 14 books, all in Chinese, on her list, such as "Pacific histories: ocean, land, people" written by David Armitage and Alison Bashford, and "War, Trade and Piracy in the China Seas (1622-1683)" written by Academia Sinica Associate Research Fellow Chen Wei-chung (鄭維中) for his doctorate degree in 2012.

The list also includes Taiwan-based Japanese writer Kengo Kobayashi's "Be Sky Taiwan" and illustrator Hsu Chih-hung's (徐至宏) work, which showcases coastal scenery in Keelung, the Matsu Islands and Orchid Island.

The president also tagged astrologer Jesse Tang (唐綺陽) to take up the challenge.

While Tang had not responded as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Facebook data shows 746 users, including ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤), had responded.