Only Taiwan can Represent Itself
The World Health Organization must stop being the political tool of the totalitarian Chinese government
“It is the purpose of the World Health Organization to serve the health to all people all over the world, instead of pandering to the specific political position of a particular country.“ –President Tsai Ing-wen
The World Health Organization (WHO) held its 2019 annual assembly last month in Geneva. Member-states sent their perspective delegations to participate on discussions of global health. For the third straight year, the Taiwanese did not receive an invitation to partake in the World Health Assembly (WHA), due to what WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier described as a lack of “cross-strait understanding” between Taiwan and China. Since Dr. Tsai Ing-wen, of the pro-Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency in 2016, the People’s Republic of China, a totalitarian regime with ambitions to annex Taiwan, has exercised every tool in its arsenal to politically obstruct and deprive the Taiwanese’s right of fair representation in international organizations. WHO, an organization responsible for promoting global health on behalf of mankind, has become a willing political vessel to serve the oppressive interests of the Chinese Communist Party.
The 23.5 million Taiwanese citizens have been neglected by the WHO since being expelled from the United Nations in the early 70s. Since the late 90s, Taiwan has attempted on numerous occasions to gain observer status within WHO, but requests were not taken up for consideration in the WHA agenda. Taiwan doesn’t have the same privileges that other WHO member-states enjoy, such as gaining access to information on the latest outbreaks and epidemics. The lack of access to WHO database not only created a blind spot for potential diseases to spread throughout the entire global network, it also has caused a detrimental effect on the Taiwanese population.
During the 2003 SARS outbreak, WHO initially refused to dispatch medical experts to the island nation until it received permission from the Chinese government. Taiwan had to solely rely on the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the latest information on SARS. Despite Taiwan being able to manage the SARS outbreak within its border, WHO indecisiveness and political charades resulted in Taiwan becoming the 3rd hardest hit area after China and Hong Kong, leaving a death toll of 37 Taiwanese lives according to WHO statistics.
In 2005, the Chinese regime and the WHO Secretariat signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding Taiwan’s participation in the WHO. According to the agreement, anything health related connected to Taiwan, must first receive the approval from China’s Ministry of Health. The government on Taiwan was not consulted about the agreement before it was signed. Under the pro-China Ma Administration, Taiwan participated in the WHA as an observer under the name “Chinese Taipei” for eight consecutive years. However, that was only possible due to President Ma Ying-Jeou accepting the so-called “1992 consensus”, a non-existent tacit agreement that both sides of the Straits recognize Taiwan and China as one country. With the 2005 MOU and the so-called 1992 consensus as cornerstones, the CCP is actively promoting a false narrative that Beijing represents the interest of the Taiwanese people and there is no need for separate Taiwanese representation in international bodies.
Taiwan’s contributions in the health field speaks for itself. Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) system is one of the best single payer systems in the world. Effectively all Taiwanese citizens are insured under the NHI. With an expenditure of 6.3 percent of the nation’s overall GDP for health care expenses, it gets better results and higher life expectancy than the spending of the United States at 17.8 percent of GDP. Taiwan has invested more than $6 billion dollars in medical and humanitarian aid throughout the world, and also made significant contributions in tackling known diseases such as Malaria, Tuberculosis, AIDS, and Ebola.
WHO’s constitution clearly states: “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.” Prioritizing another country’s political ambitions over the health of mankind and purposely excluding another country run contrary to the original intention of the WHO constitution. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysurs constantly promotes the idea of health care for all humanity, but how can the world achieve “health for all” if the same organization is tolerating the Chinese regime’s using WHO to promote United Front propaganda against Taiwan? Until the WHO allows Taiwan to have fair representation at WHA, the Director-General’s words are nothing more than an empty slogan.
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