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WHO `interference' foils delegation's charm offensive

Taiwan Medical Professionals Alliance chairman Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民) said in Washington on Wednesday that a Taiwanese delegation had planned to visit the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in at attempt to win the organization's support for Taiwan's entry into the WHO but had to cancel the plan after interference by the WHO.

Deputy Representative Stanley Kao (高碩泰) of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington said he was still trying to clarify the reason for the PAHO's canceling the meeting, adding there might have been "foul play."

A PAHO spokesperson did not respond to inquiries.

Seeking support

A medical delegation consisting of Wu, Taiwan Medical Association president Wu Yun-tung (吳運東) and Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator George Liu (劉寬平) is in Washington to drum up support for the nation's entry into the WHO.

At a press conference at Twin Oaks, Wu Shuh-min said China is oppressing Taiwan wherever it can.

Taiwan Medical Professionals Alliance executive director Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) aimed his criticism at Hong Kong born WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍), saying Chan's actions after her accession to the post last year have showed that she is focusing on China's interests rather than the interests of the WHO.

Health danger

The medical delegation said that Taiwan's isolation from the WHO presents a danger to global health, as Taiwan is the only country in the world denied full access to support and information from the world health body.

The physicians met US officials in the hope that Washington would broaden its support for the country's admission, under observer status, to the WHO.

In recent years Japan and the US have advocated for Taiwan's observer status, but only 25 of the WHO's 191 full members have joined the cause.

The physicians said they hoped to convince the US to apply more pressure on the EU and Canada to join the cause for Taiwan, but doubted they had succeeded.

Both the EU and Ottawa say they can't allow Taiwan to have observer status -- already accorded to the Red Cross, the Palestinian Authority, the Vatican, Kosovo and several other non-state entities -- because it would violate their "one China" policy.

"If we are not in the network, there is going to be a hole," said Wu Shuh-Min (吳樹民), the nation's ambassador-at-large on WHO issues and a member of the World Medical Association.

Liu took the argument one step further.

"This is not a political issue but an issue of human rights," he said.

The delegation has been visiting world capitals ahead of the annual World Health Assembly in May, where matters of membership are decided. A simple majority would suffice to give Taiwan observer status.

"We don't mind fighting another 10 years, but I don't want a disaster to happen," Wu Shuh-min said.

Taiwan successfully contained a SARS outbreak in 2003 using a rigorous system of containment, ship and plane searches, the temperature-monitoring of arriving passengers, hospital closures and facial masks distribution.

The physicians said that Beijing kept the world in the dark about its SARS problems and has "lied" to the world about how much support it gives Taiwan on health issues.
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