As Taiwan is not an official member of the WHO, it has never been included in the organization’s International Health Regulations (IHR).
The term “contact point,” which is used for the nation’s contact window for IHR concerns, does not appear anywhere in the text of its articles, whereas the term used with regard to WHO member states, that does appear in the text of the IHR, is “focal point.”
Taiwan formally announced in 2000 that it had eradicated poliomyelitis, and the hard work of epidemic prevention workers eventually convinced the WHO to send experts to the nation to verify this report.
However, Taiwan has to this day still not obtained formal WHO certification of its polio-free status. In fact Taiwan was even blocked from participating in Rotary International’s Meeting on Poliomyelitis Eradication in the Western Pacific in Kyoto in October 2000.
Therefore, it was not very surprising to read in recent news reports that the updated IHR list of authorized ports announced by the WHO on Nov. 7 lists Taiwanese ports under China’s name.
It was no surprise, either, when experts recommended by the WHO were unable to come to Taiwan to certify its ports last year due to interference from Beijing.
If Taipei remains silent over such issues, similar incidents of Taiwan being belittled will continue to occur.
The IHR, which came into effect on June 15, 2007, is binding on the WHO’s 194 member states. The purpose of the agreement is to coordinate management of events that might constitute public health emergencies of international concern.
At national level, it aims to establish robust national healthcare systems to maintain active monitoring of diseases and public health incidents, and to improve a nation’s capacity to promptly investigate and assess public health threats, notify the international community, share information and implement public health measures to control such threats as they arise.
At international level, the IHR requires an effective framework capable of supporting disease-control plans related to specific threats to public health and continuously assessing the global situation of such threats.
Taiwan received notification from the WHO in 2009 of its inclusion in the IHR as a “contact point.”
However, Taiwan, as an observer rather than a member state, is only entitled to take part in the annual five-day World Health Assembly, and it cannot send representatives to take part in related technical meetings.
The nation can only wait for the information that the WHO releases after it has made its decisions and resolutions.
Questions remain over whether there is any difference between a “contact point” and a “focal point” in terms of their access to information.
Is the information that Taiwan receives and sends out transmitted instantaneously, or is it filtered by China in the process?
Close attention should be paid to this issue.
Having ports and disease situation maps listed under the title of China is a situation which the government should not fool itself or play political games to mislead the public about.
Rather, it should face the predicament square on and solemnly object to these injustices.
A confidential internal WHO memorandum circulated in October 2010 demanded that Taiwan should be referred to as a province of China.
On May 17, 2011, then-US secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius publicly declared that no UN organization should infer that Taiwan is a province of China.
Last year, during the H7N9 influenza outbreak, Taiwan was again listed as an epidemic area of China.
At that time, I was convener of the Taiwan Solidarity Union’s legislative caucus, and the party immediately held a news conference calling on the government to raise an official objection.
Instances of Taiwan’s belittlement keep happening and the nation must not adopt an attitude of “ just grin and bear it.”
When faced with any kind of oppression, it should not just be accepted without comment.
Rather, people should be told to focus on public opinion.
Objections should be raised in the international community to demonstrate the importance that the nation attaches to its international participation, as well as stressing the inviolability of its status and reaffirming Taiwan’s existence in the international arena.
Lin Shih-chia is executive director of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan and a former legislator.
Translated by Perry Svensson and Julian Clegg
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