The WHO is aware of Taiwan's protest against its inclusion of confirmed cases of A(H1N1) infections in Taiwan under figures for China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, but acknowledged that it had not yet received a response from the global health body in Geneva.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) on Friday said she had evidence that the WHO had listed Taiwan's confirmed swine flu cases under China on its official Web site. Such a gesture means that the WHO places Taiwan under China — a status that the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has vowed would never happen, she said.
WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi was quoted by a Central News Agency report on Friday night as saying that Taiwan's confirmed swine flu cases were all listed under China.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) yesterday confirmed that the WHO had listed Taiwan's cases under China. Taiwan's representative office in Geneva has lodged a protest against the WHO Secretariat office, he added.
Chen said Taiwan had already made remarkable strides by being invited as an observer at this year's World Health Assembly, but acknowledged that many issues still remain to be resolved.
Ministry deputy spokesman James Chang (章計平) said yesterday that, as the WHO is a specialized UN agency, the organization's usual stance was to treat Taiwan as part of China, but the ministry would continue to actively protest against such practice.
Asked if the WHO had responded to Taiwan's protest, Chang said he needed to verify that with the Geneva office. As of press time, Chang said he had no further information.
In related news, a US congressman is calling on Capitol Hill to support Taiwan's “full and equal membership” in the WHO.
New Jersey Republican Scott Garrett made his appeal in an extension of remarks published in the Congressional record.
“It is an outrage that China has essentially blocked Taiwan from participating in the WHO for so long. I firmly believe that the health of Taiwan's 23 million citizens should not be used as a political weapon,” he said.
Garrett said the past week marked the first time Taiwan had been allowed to participate in a meeting of a specialized UN agency since losing its UN membership to China in 1971.
“I have seen some label Taiwan's participation as a 'breakthrough' and I have heard the ‘goodwill of the mainland authorities' praised,” he said. “But we need to remind ourselves that participation as an 'observer' does not give Taiwan the right to vote.”
“In addition, Taiwan's participation is not permanent. It comes only under Beijing's sponsorship on a one-year-at-a-time basis. China continues to block Taiwan's full and equal membership in the WHO,” Garrett said.
The congressman said he would prefer to see Taiwan join the WHO “under the name Taiwan which, after all, is the name of the country. Taipei is merely Taiwan's capital.”
“I am concerned that Chinese approval is becoming a prerequisite for Taiwan's participation in any international organization and that countries will begin to view China as Taiwan's suzerain,” he added.
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