MOFA presses for direct access to WHO

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged the WHO to restore direct contact with Taiwan after an incident in which China took 10 days to pass on information on food contamination to Taiwan.

The International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), under the WHO, on Sept. 12 informed countries that baby corn exported by a Thai company might be contaminated with the Shigella dysenteriae pathogen, but Taiwan did not receive the information until 10 days later, ministry spokesman David Wang (王建業) told a press conference.

The information was faxed to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) by its Chinese counterpart on Sept. 21, Wang said.

"This was the first time the WHO did not provide information on epidemic prevention to Taiwan directly. The WHO owes Taiwan an explanation [for changing its convention of communicating with the country directly]," Wang said.

Wang said that the government took the matter very seriously as the change might reflect the consequences of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) China signed with the WHO in 2005.

"We have not yet determined whether it is related to the MOU, but it is a concern that the WHO is now under pressure from China," Wang said.

Wang said the CDC filed a complaint with the WHO late last month but has yet to receive a reply.

Beijing also revealed in May that it was discussing a second MOU regarding Taiwan's inclusion in the International Health Regulations (2005), which went into effect on June 15 this year.

As the MOUs have been kept confidential, Taiwanese officials do not know their exact content, Wang said.

But it is known that China claimed authority over Taiwan and asked the WHO to communicate with Taiwan via Beijing, Wang said.

"Communications between the WHO and the CDC had been going well in recent years in cases such as the contaminated baby milk from France and polluted spinach from the US. We still need to understand why the WHO changed tack," he said.

Lin Yung-lo (林永樂), director of the ministry's Department of International Organizations, said the government also informed the EU, the US and Japan about the case.

"We told them that the WHO's practice of passing information to Taiwan through China suggests that Taiwan is part of China, which is not actually the case," Lin said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said in a statement that the 10-day delay showed that China's claim it would take care of Taiwanese people's health was nothing but a lie.

Spokesperson Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) told the Taipei Times yesterday that the CDC had received a fax from its Chinese counterpart informing Taiwan about the contamination on Sept. 21

But Shih said the WHO had distributed the information to its members on Sept. 12.

"Is this how they [China] take care of the 23 million people in Taiwan?" he asked.

Shih added that although Taiwan is not a member of the WHO, the CDC, as the contact point with the organization, has been striving to follow WHO protocol.

The nation deserves equal access to information, he said.

"The WHO should make information related to disease prevention and control available online," Shih said. "That way, we can acquire information first-hand without being censored by China."

Meanwhile, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus convener Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said yesterday that his party might propose "a letters to the WHO" activity to protest the Chinese government's delay.