Print

Mail

wiki links

Chen pleads Taiwan's case in e-paper

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged the international community to ignore China's pressure and accept Taiwan as a member of the World Health Organ-ization (WHO) in a bid to jointly overcome the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

"Following the globalization and liberation of Taiwan's society, people in this country have realized the importance of synchronization with other countries in facing the new epidemic," Chen said in his weekly "A-bian President's e-paper."

Noting that the experience of the SARS should be a clear warning to the international community, Chen stressed that the government is willing to contribute its power to help prevent the spread of the disease as well as provide medical treatment for infected people.

"A-Bian believes that concerns for health care and disease control are cross-border -- that no country should or can be excluded from the World Health Organization sys-tems," the president wrote.

"Comparing the ways Taiwan and China handled the SARS crisis, I call on the international community to reconsider China's blocking of Taiwan's participation in the WHO," he wrote.

"No one has the right to deprive others of better medical treatment. Health and happiness transcend politics, national borders and race; they are basic human rights," he said.

Chen stressed that even though Taiwan is not a WHO member, the measures taken by the government in countering the disease have been completely based on the organization's suggestions.

"We have even taken tougher measures than recommended because we understand that the life and health of the people is at stake. We would rather make extra efforts than risk people's lives," Chen wrote.

On behalf of the government, Chen also expressed appreciation to medical personnel nationwide for their effort to fight the spread of SARS.

Chen said that in the face of new challenges, fear is inevitable but the public should remain calm and rational, "face reality squarely, accurately analyze the problem at hand and turn our fear and tendency to seek a way to escape into the momentum that drives the country forward."

"With our concerted efforts, we will not only keep the SARS threat to the minimum, but better prepare ourselves for disease control work in the future," he said.

Meanwhile, China's health minister berated Taiwan yesterday for trying to join the WHO, accusing it of exploiting the SARS outbreak for its own political ends.

Taiwan's leaders should not "introduce additional trouble into this process and should refrain from further spreading incorrect information out of ulterior mo-tives," Zhang Wenkang (張文康) told reporters at a Beijing news conference on China's handling of the outbreak.

"We also hope they will stop this attempt to exploit the SARS problem in the name of human rights" in order to join the WHO, Zhang said. "This is unwise and will never succeed."
This story has been viewed 2593 times.