On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO)rejected the government's request that Taiwan be removed from its travel advisory list. The WHO's rejection is not only a major blow to the nation's health care workers, but a big frustration for the general public. The application was presented in strict accordance with the standards by which Hong Kong was removed from the WHO's list on May 23. Taiwan has not done any worse than Hong Kong and Guangdong Province in SARS prevention, but it has received different treatment from the WHO. This has led to accusations of Chinese political interference.
Officials from the Department of Health had expressed optimism about the nation's prospects for being removed from the travel advisory because the number of probable cases and deaths this month were low enough for Taiwan to qualify. The government has established standard procedures at hospitals and the epidemic had been brought under control. Even though there was a SARS outbreak at Taipei Municipal Yangming Hospital after the application was filed, the sources of infection were immediately isolated.
Even though Taiwan reported six probable cases on June 10, six of the people displayed symptoms that were not typical of SARS and not all of them tested positive on polymerase-chain-reaction tests. But the government has respected the judgment of medical professionals and honestly listed them as probable cases. The nation's performance has won praise from WHO experts conducting field inspections here and they were astonished by the rejection of the application.
Some have attributed the rejection to media reports that Taiwan may have exported SARS cases to Germany, Thailand and Brazil. But these reports have proven largely to be untrue. These are flimsy reasons for rejecting Taiwan's application -- if they were actually used as reasons.
China's interference in the WHO's operations is nothing new. During this year's World Health Assembly, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (
Rumors have long circulated that Beijing has pressured the WHO not to remove Taiwan from its list before it takes China off the list. The fact that Taiwan was rejected despite its good prospects has reinforced speculation that political considerations are overriding professional judgment at the WHO.
Taiwan has tried to join the WHO in the belief that it is a professional organization that values medical expertise and human rights. If the rumors about China's interference in the WHO are true, and if the agency is kowtowing to political pressure in violation of its own principles, then Taiwan should not be so eager to join it.
But that does not mean there is no need for improvement in the nation's epidemic-prevention measures. We can see from the cluster infections at Yangming Hospital that Taiwan still isn't doing well enough.
Taiwan's eventual goal is not merely to be removed from the travel advisory, but to eradicate SARS entirely. The failure to get off the WHO's travel advisory list is a warning that the nation must not lower its guard. Constant alert and effort are as
necessary as ever. Just one lapse and SARS may make a comeback.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS