After missiles, germs and viruses?
China is once again confronting the threat of an epidemic. This time around, the disease is enterovirus, which as of Monday had infected 4,500 people in China and killed 22, Chinese state media said. Given Beijing’s track record of hiding the magnitude of epidemics, however, it would not be surprising if the government were once again downplaying the seriousness of the situation.
Meanwhile, 64 cases of serious enterovirus infection — with two deaths — have also been reported in Taiwan this year.
While Centers for Disease Control officials have said that the infections in China and Taiwan were caused by genetically distinct subgenogroups and are therefore unconnected, China’s poor record of reporting disease outbreaks has many in Taiwan concerned that it may only be a matter of time before a sneeze in China represents a threat to Taiwanese.
The nightmare of the 2003 SARS epidemic is still vivid in many people’s mind. Because of criminal neglect by the Chinese government, the outbreak of atypical pneumonia, the first case of which was traced back to Guangdong Province in November 2002, was allowed to spread to Hong Kong, Taiwan and as far as Toronto and the east coast of the US before measures were taken to address the problem.
The SARS outbreak claimed 73 lives in Taiwan — the third-highest death toll after China and Hong Kong. As a direct result of Beijing’s relentless blocking of Taiwan’s application for WHO membership or observer status, Taiwan found itself unable to communicate with WHO officials at the height of the crisis. It took two months before the WHO dispatched health experts to deal with the situation in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time the WHO — which trumpets itself as an international health body that puts global health issues first — had ignored calls by a country in the midst of a health emergency.
In 1998, an outbreak of enterovirus in Taiwan resulted in 80 deaths. Again, because Taiwan was not a member of the WHO, the organization did not respond to Taipei’s call for assistance, which instead came from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Subsequent to that incident, it was determined that an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Kinmen had been caused by sick cattle smuggled from China.
By yielding to Beijing’s pressure and barring Taiwan from membership, the WHO has violated not only Taiwanese’s right to medical service, but also created a blind spot in the global disease prevention network.
Given its geographic proximity to China, Taiwan will always be at risk of catching a Chinese cold.
As there is no way Taiwan can change its geographic location, the WHO’s inclusion of Taiwan in the global health network is the one practical and effective alternative in protecting the health of Taiwanese.
But until members of the WHO come to their senses and stand up to Beijing, Taiwanese will continue to be threatened by Beijing’s disregard for human life.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations