I’ve been considering writing this story for a while since I saw lots of news and claims from China and WHO questioning Taiwan’s effort on the control of coronavirus. I don’t want to bring hatred and anger amid the virus ordeal, but I was infuriated to see the Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accusing Taiwan of being racist to smear and intimidate him on April 8th.
His careless words have brought huge disappointment and frustration not only to the government leaders and the general public, but also to medical professionals and healthcare providers who have put so much effort and risked their lives at the frontline to turn around the situation. Right now, the world is in desperate need of unity and support, as well as reliable information and strong leadership. The WHO Director’s remarks are irresponsible and hateful and come after a reckless series of choices that singled out Taiwan from the global public health response.
After being severely hit by SARS in 2003, Taiwan was extremely alert when COVID-19 came around—our country took the threat seriously from day one. The government made all the numbers and information transparent. This allowed the public to catch up with new policies and know exactly how to do their parts to prevent the disease from spreading. Since I’m an international student, I returned to Taiwan when the campus closed. Now, I feel safe at home, not only because Taiwan has a solid healthcare system, but also because everyone here on the island is doing their part to control the spread, whether that means quarantining, social-distancing, or wearing masks. While schools and businesses have been moved remotely in most countries, most schools and businesses remain open in Taiwan. With everyone’s effort, Taiwan’s success in control and prevention has been highlighted by international media coverage. Additionally, Taiwan has contributed to the international solidarity effort by sharing technology to trace the outbreak and donating 10 million face masks to allies, European countries, and the United States. Those masks bear the slogan “Taiwan can help,” as our government’s actions show a genuine desire to serve as a role model in terms of public health.
患難之交???? 500 thousand face masks just arrived in Poland donated by our friends from Taiwan #taiwancanhelp #TaiwanIsHelping #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/I49pukqsUt
— Bartosz Ryś ?? (@rys_bartosz) April 10, 2020
It is disappointing to see that Taiwan’s effort is not recognized by the globe and that our country is still excluded from the global health network. Taiwan is not welcome at the WHO and the WHA because of China’s reticence to consider Taiwan as an independent nation. This doesn’t simply mean that Taiwan can’t help the world; it also means that Taiwan has to fight the pandemic and make decisions on its own without timely information, accurate data, and guidelines from the WHO. At the end of last year, Taiwan emailed WHO to warn the organization that the novel virus might be transmitted through humans, and requested to obtain relevant information. The WHO chose to ignore our warning and even assured global leaders that “there was no mention in the message of ‘human-to-human’ transmission.” The fact that politics interfere with public health is posing a huge threat both to Taiwan and to its neighbor countries populations.
It’s unjust that WHO has been China-centric and refuses to recognize Taiwan’s effort. Weeks ago, a Hong Kong journalist Yvvone Tong asked a WHO senior official Bruce Alyward if the WHO would reconsider Taiwan’s membership in light of recent events. Alyward pretended not to hear the question and later hung up on her. It’s sad to see WHO officials placing politics over healthcare while proudly stating the empty motto, “Health for all.” The Beijing Government went as far as saying that Taiwan was trying “to use the epidemic to seek independence.” In my opinion, Taiwan is just trying harder than any other country to be a part of the global health network and do their best to control the pandemic.
Bruce Aylward @WHO did an interview with HK’s @rthk_news When asked about #Taiwan he pretended not to hear the question. The journalist asked again & he even hung up! Woo can’t believe how corrupted @WHO is. pic.twitter.com/uyBytfO3LP
— Studio Incendo (@studioincendo) March 28, 2020
Let’s hope that the WHO and international leaders will learn from past mistakes and be united against COVID-19. Public health knowledge should be accessible to all, regardless of any political animosity between nations. At the end of the day, hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved if the world came together with a global strategy to address the crisis.
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