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Source: http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/ct.as...931&CtNode=119
Publication Date：05/01/2008
Byline：OSCAR CHUNG
Gaining a place in the World Health Organization is a long-term goal that will take patience and perseverance.
The year 1971 proved to be a watershed for Taiwan and its place in the world community when the nation withdrew from the United Nations and other organizations operating under it, including the World Health Organization. Then, after decades of silence, in 1997 Taiwan's government decided to stand up for the health interests of its people and make a WHO bid. Due to interference from China, however, Taiwan is still barred from entering the world health body.
For years, Taiwan fought under the name "Republic of China" for observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the international conference the WHO holds each May. The strategy underwent a major shift in 2007, as the nation for the first time sought full membership in the WHO under the name "Taiwan." The struggle continues for Taiwan to foster a deeper engagement with the world health community.
A positive development occurred in 2005 when the WHA approved a revision to International Health Regulations, adopting the principle of "universal application." In other words, Taiwan, though not a member of the WHO, gained a legal foundation on which to seek a place in the organization. Meanwhile, several of the world's major powers have started to respond positively to Taiwan's bid to enter the WHO. The United States and Japan agree that Taiwan should be given observer status in the WHA, while the European Union has expressed somewhat more tempered support for Taiwanese professionals gaining "meaningful participation" in WHO-related affairs. Among the positions, the EU policy is more conservative given that China has been allowed to decide what is "meaningful" for Taiwan.
On the whole, however, the current situation remains rather unfavorable for Taiwan to gain a place in the UN's main coordinating authority for health. In 2005, without Taiwan's permission or even participation, the head of the Chinese delegation to the WHO signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the UN organization governing the modes of interaction between Taiwan and the WHO. Based on that memorandum, all contact between Taiwan and the WHO is possible only via Beijing. That is, Beijing claims to speak for and intercede on behalf of Taiwan in matters relating to the global health body.
Taiwan has found that, despite the WHO adopting the principle of universality, which took effect in 2007, it is still denied direct contacts with the world health body due to the MOU with China. Thus, three of Taiwan's diplomatic allies--Sao Tome and Principe, Paraguay and El Salvador--introduced a draft resolution in January this year to the WHO's executive board arguing for non-WHO members to speak and act for themselves in the organization. However, of the 34 board members, only the three allies voted for the measure.
Some members of Taiwan's media have even experienced China's bullying attitude firsthand. Reporters with Taiwanese passports used to be able to apply for a permit from the WHA that allowed them to enter the media section at the assembly, but since 2004 this has no longer been the case. The Paris-based organization Reporters sans frontieres, or Reporters Without Borders, has since spoken out many times against the discrimination Taiwan's reporters face at the WHA.
Indeed, China's attitude toward Taiwan could backfire and generate more support for the island from the international community. "Battering people into loyalty is a highly ineffective strategy," says Ian Williams, a UN correspondent of The Nation, one of America's most prestigious weekly political journals. Williams was referring to the examples of East Timor and Kosovo in an article supporting Taiwan's right to self-determination.
The WHO's refusal, under pressure from China, to accept Taiwan as a member is not news anymore, but Taiwan is not giving up hope of an eventual victory. To discuss this and other related issues, Taiwan Review talked to Wu Shu-min, president of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan, Lin Wen-cheng, president of Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and Hou Sheng-mou, minister of the Department of Health (DOH).
TR: How important is it for Taiwan to join the WHO?
Wu: Taiwan's bid to enter the WHO is not only for the benefit of the Taiwanese. The health of the Taiwanese population is related to that of all human beings, but Taiwan has yet to be included in the global network of disease control. Taiwan did a good job in containing SARS in 2003. It came from China, but we didn't let the disease spread outside Taiwan. However, you can't guarantee that we can control every disease so well if Taiwan is hit. I'm very worried about bird flu because it is more contagious than SARS. Only after Taiwan enters the WHO can we work with the world to fight the disease once it breaks out.
Lin: It's important for medical professionals to keep up a regular exchange of information with their foreign counterparts at international meetings. But if Taiwanese want to attend WHO meetings, they have to get the nod from China, and often by the time they receive an invitation from the WHO, it's too late to go to the meeting.
Actually, as part of the global village, Taiwan should be treated fairly, like any other country, in the first place. At any rate, as Taiwan has been doing its part making contributions to world health such as offering aid to poorer countries, we have the right to be included in the international community.
Hou: Taiwan is the 18th largest economy in the world and has a population of 23 million. We are also an important transportation hub in the western Pacific region and we see more than 20 million international arrivals every year. All this means Taiwan has an important position in the world, so Taiwan shouldn't be absent from the global network of disease control. Many of my foreign friends find the fact that Taiwan is not a WHO member not only surprising, but also unacceptable.
Isolated from the WHO, Taiwan finds it difficult to a great extent to obtain immediate information on diseases developing abroad. When the enterovirus broke out in Taiwan in 1998, we failed to respond to it well enough because of the inadequacy of related information. Seventy children died as a result and the disease has since taken root in Taiwan permanently. But if Taiwan had been a WHO member at the time, we could have been alerted in advance that the disease had already spread in the Philippines and Indonesia.
SARS had an even more serious impact on Taiwan in 2003. As a WHO member, Singapore could get help from WHO experts within two days of the outbreak there, but it took them two months to come to Taiwan's aid. As a result, as many as 87 Taiwanese died from the disease. What worries me now is the likely outbreak of bird flu. According to a DOH report, once the virus can easily spread via person-to-person transmission, it could claim as many as 14,000 human lives in Taiwan. And the disease would not only affect Taiwanese, but also the 330,000 foreigners from Southeast Asia as well as the nearly 100,000 from Japan and the West living in Taiwan.
A recent case exemplifying the urgent need for Taiwan to join the WHO is China's delayed report to Taiwan regarding green corn contaminated with the pathogen Shigella dysenteriae shipped from Thailand last September. The WHO followed the memorandum it had signed with China and notified them as soon as it knew that the contaminated shipments might come to Taiwan. However, China only informed Taiwan of this 10 days after it got the news. Fortunately, as it happened, Taiwan didn't import the contaminated corn; otherwise the situation would have been terrible.
TR: How challenging is it to fight against China blocking Taiwan's WHO bid?
Lin: The only obstacle to Taiwan's bid is China's opposition. Which country would oppose our joining if China didn't?
China's suppression of Taiwan is getting worse and worse. It is trying systematically to weaken Taiwan's sovereignty. China started a kind of "war of laws" in March 2005 by passing the "anti-secession law" and goes to great lengths to win over Taiwan's allies. It is even trying to intervene in regard to the name Taiwan uses as a member of international NGOs. It seems more and more international NGOs are yielding to China's pressure. As China is gaining in strength, it is becoming more challenging for Taiwan to join international organizations.
[Former Hong Kong Director of Health] Margaret Chan was elected WHO director-general in 2006. Her election has much to do with China's support and therefore is an obvious obstacle to Taiwan's WHO bid.
If Taiwan makes a concession by applying only for observer status in the WHA, China shouldn't try to corner Taiwan. Even some scholars I met in China agreed that China shouldn't oppose Taiwan's bid for observer status. But China is just too high-handed with us, which greatly disappoints the people of Taiwan.
Wu: I've talked to many medical professionals worldwide, and they all think Taiwan should be part of the WHO. But the "one China" principle is apparently accepted by most governments. Many of their health officials sympathize with Taiwan, but the difficulties are with those responsible for foreign affairs, and the former certainly have to act according to the latter's policies.
TR: What can Taiwan do to win more support from the international community?
Wu: The Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan now concentrates on lobbying around the world for the repeal of the MOU between the WHO and China. For its part, Taiwan should also rethink its foreign policies. We shouldn't overemphasize the number of countries that have formal relations with Taiwan. We should consider shifting part of our resources to publicity work in major democracies like Japan and the United States. We should let their people know Taiwan's situation so that they will influence the policies of their governments.
Lin: It's quite difficult for Taiwan to enter the WTO, but we should stick to the goal, although there is a long road ahead of us. Nothing is impossible in international politics. There are three small countries by the Baltic Sea that are now independent, although this was unimaginable in the past. China still takes a conservative attitude and holds onto old ideas, but the world won't stop moving on. In 1992, the then-UN secretary-general claimed that the time of absolute and exclusive sovereignty had passed. Borders are disappearing now, but obviously China cannot accept this.
In this current situation, Taiwan's NGOs should cooperate more with those working with the WHO. For example, Taiwan's medical missions should create more opportunities to work with them in Africa instead of going there alone. Then they can get an idea of how much Taiwan is contributing to the world, while also building close connections with Taiwan. If those foreign friends hold influential positions, they might speak for us through various means such as writing articles promoting Taiwan's rights.
Hou: Taiwan's government has been supporting Taiwan's NGOs in their attempts to build relations with international NGOs working with the WHO. The effort is beginning to bear fruit and a recent example is the election of Wu Delon, president of the Taiwan Hospital Association, to the governing council of the International Hospital Federation.
In addition, the government and private sectors have spent more than US$450 million on medical supplies and emergency aid for the international community in the past 10 years. In early 2006, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the DOH together established Taiwan International Health Action, an organization integrating resources from these two sectors. It has since sent medical missions to countries like Indonesia and Peru and made itself an important international health aid organization, which definitely is a plus for Taiwan's WHO bid.
Write to Oscar Chung at oscar@mail.gio.gov.tw
Publication Date：05/01/2008
Byline：OSCAR CHUNG
Gaining a place in the World Health Organization is a long-term goal that will take patience and perseverance.
The year 1971 proved to be a watershed for Taiwan and its place in the world community when the nation withdrew from the United Nations and other organizations operating under it, including the World Health Organization. Then, after decades of silence, in 1997 Taiwan's government decided to stand up for the health interests of its people and make a WHO bid. Due to interference from China, however, Taiwan is still barred from entering the world health body.
For years, Taiwan fought under the name "Republic of China" for observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the international conference the WHO holds each May. The strategy underwent a major shift in 2007, as the nation for the first time sought full membership in the WHO under the name "Taiwan." The struggle continues for Taiwan to foster a deeper engagement with the world health community.
A positive development occurred in 2005 when the WHA approved a revision to International Health Regulations, adopting the principle of "universal application." In other words, Taiwan, though not a member of the WHO, gained a legal foundation on which to seek a place in the organization. Meanwhile, several of the world's major powers have started to respond positively to Taiwan's bid to enter the WHO. The United States and Japan agree that Taiwan should be given observer status in the WHA, while the European Union has expressed somewhat more tempered support for Taiwanese professionals gaining "meaningful participation" in WHO-related affairs. Among the positions, the EU policy is more conservative given that China has been allowed to decide what is "meaningful" for Taiwan.
On the whole, however, the current situation remains rather unfavorable for Taiwan to gain a place in the UN's main coordinating authority for health. In 2005, without Taiwan's permission or even participation, the head of the Chinese delegation to the WHO signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the UN organization governing the modes of interaction between Taiwan and the WHO. Based on that memorandum, all contact between Taiwan and the WHO is possible only via Beijing. That is, Beijing claims to speak for and intercede on behalf of Taiwan in matters relating to the global health body.
Taiwan has found that, despite the WHO adopting the principle of universality, which took effect in 2007, it is still denied direct contacts with the world health body due to the MOU with China. Thus, three of Taiwan's diplomatic allies--Sao Tome and Principe, Paraguay and El Salvador--introduced a draft resolution in January this year to the WHO's executive board arguing for non-WHO members to speak and act for themselves in the organization. However, of the 34 board members, only the three allies voted for the measure.
Some members of Taiwan's media have even experienced China's bullying attitude firsthand. Reporters with Taiwanese passports used to be able to apply for a permit from the WHA that allowed them to enter the media section at the assembly, but since 2004 this has no longer been the case. The Paris-based organization Reporters sans frontieres, or Reporters Without Borders, has since spoken out many times against the discrimination Taiwan's reporters face at the WHA.
Indeed, China's attitude toward Taiwan could backfire and generate more support for the island from the international community. "Battering people into loyalty is a highly ineffective strategy," says Ian Williams, a UN correspondent of The Nation, one of America's most prestigious weekly political journals. Williams was referring to the examples of East Timor and Kosovo in an article supporting Taiwan's right to self-determination.
The WHO's refusal, under pressure from China, to accept Taiwan as a member is not news anymore, but Taiwan is not giving up hope of an eventual victory. To discuss this and other related issues, Taiwan Review talked to Wu Shu-min, president of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan, Lin Wen-cheng, president of Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and Hou Sheng-mou, minister of the Department of Health (DOH).
TR: How important is it for Taiwan to join the WHO?
Wu: Taiwan's bid to enter the WHO is not only for the benefit of the Taiwanese. The health of the Taiwanese population is related to that of all human beings, but Taiwan has yet to be included in the global network of disease control. Taiwan did a good job in containing SARS in 2003. It came from China, but we didn't let the disease spread outside Taiwan. However, you can't guarantee that we can control every disease so well if Taiwan is hit. I'm very worried about bird flu because it is more contagious than SARS. Only after Taiwan enters the WHO can we work with the world to fight the disease once it breaks out.
Lin: It's important for medical professionals to keep up a regular exchange of information with their foreign counterparts at international meetings. But if Taiwanese want to attend WHO meetings, they have to get the nod from China, and often by the time they receive an invitation from the WHO, it's too late to go to the meeting.
Actually, as part of the global village, Taiwan should be treated fairly, like any other country, in the first place. At any rate, as Taiwan has been doing its part making contributions to world health such as offering aid to poorer countries, we have the right to be included in the international community.
Hou: Taiwan is the 18th largest economy in the world and has a population of 23 million. We are also an important transportation hub in the western Pacific region and we see more than 20 million international arrivals every year. All this means Taiwan has an important position in the world, so Taiwan shouldn't be absent from the global network of disease control. Many of my foreign friends find the fact that Taiwan is not a WHO member not only surprising, but also unacceptable.
Isolated from the WHO, Taiwan finds it difficult to a great extent to obtain immediate information on diseases developing abroad. When the enterovirus broke out in Taiwan in 1998, we failed to respond to it well enough because of the inadequacy of related information. Seventy children died as a result and the disease has since taken root in Taiwan permanently. But if Taiwan had been a WHO member at the time, we could have been alerted in advance that the disease had already spread in the Philippines and Indonesia.
SARS had an even more serious impact on Taiwan in 2003. As a WHO member, Singapore could get help from WHO experts within two days of the outbreak there, but it took them two months to come to Taiwan's aid. As a result, as many as 87 Taiwanese died from the disease. What worries me now is the likely outbreak of bird flu. According to a DOH report, once the virus can easily spread via person-to-person transmission, it could claim as many as 14,000 human lives in Taiwan. And the disease would not only affect Taiwanese, but also the 330,000 foreigners from Southeast Asia as well as the nearly 100,000 from Japan and the West living in Taiwan.
A recent case exemplifying the urgent need for Taiwan to join the WHO is China's delayed report to Taiwan regarding green corn contaminated with the pathogen Shigella dysenteriae shipped from Thailand last September. The WHO followed the memorandum it had signed with China and notified them as soon as it knew that the contaminated shipments might come to Taiwan. However, China only informed Taiwan of this 10 days after it got the news. Fortunately, as it happened, Taiwan didn't import the contaminated corn; otherwise the situation would have been terrible.
TR: How challenging is it to fight against China blocking Taiwan's WHO bid?
Lin: The only obstacle to Taiwan's bid is China's opposition. Which country would oppose our joining if China didn't?
China's suppression of Taiwan is getting worse and worse. It is trying systematically to weaken Taiwan's sovereignty. China started a kind of "war of laws" in March 2005 by passing the "anti-secession law" and goes to great lengths to win over Taiwan's allies. It is even trying to intervene in regard to the name Taiwan uses as a member of international NGOs. It seems more and more international NGOs are yielding to China's pressure. As China is gaining in strength, it is becoming more challenging for Taiwan to join international organizations.
[Former Hong Kong Director of Health] Margaret Chan was elected WHO director-general in 2006. Her election has much to do with China's support and therefore is an obvious obstacle to Taiwan's WHO bid.
If Taiwan makes a concession by applying only for observer status in the WHA, China shouldn't try to corner Taiwan. Even some scholars I met in China agreed that China shouldn't oppose Taiwan's bid for observer status. But China is just too high-handed with us, which greatly disappoints the people of Taiwan.
Wu: I've talked to many medical professionals worldwide, and they all think Taiwan should be part of the WHO. But the "one China" principle is apparently accepted by most governments. Many of their health officials sympathize with Taiwan, but the difficulties are with those responsible for foreign affairs, and the former certainly have to act according to the latter's policies.
TR: What can Taiwan do to win more support from the international community?
Wu: The Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan now concentrates on lobbying around the world for the repeal of the MOU between the WHO and China. For its part, Taiwan should also rethink its foreign policies. We shouldn't overemphasize the number of countries that have formal relations with Taiwan. We should consider shifting part of our resources to publicity work in major democracies like Japan and the United States. We should let their people know Taiwan's situation so that they will influence the policies of their governments.
Lin: It's quite difficult for Taiwan to enter the WTO, but we should stick to the goal, although there is a long road ahead of us. Nothing is impossible in international politics. There are three small countries by the Baltic Sea that are now independent, although this was unimaginable in the past. China still takes a conservative attitude and holds onto old ideas, but the world won't stop moving on. In 1992, the then-UN secretary-general claimed that the time of absolute and exclusive sovereignty had passed. Borders are disappearing now, but obviously China cannot accept this.
In this current situation, Taiwan's NGOs should cooperate more with those working with the WHO. For example, Taiwan's medical missions should create more opportunities to work with them in Africa instead of going there alone. Then they can get an idea of how much Taiwan is contributing to the world, while also building close connections with Taiwan. If those foreign friends hold influential positions, they might speak for us through various means such as writing articles promoting Taiwan's rights.
Hou: Taiwan's government has been supporting Taiwan's NGOs in their attempts to build relations with international NGOs working with the WHO. The effort is beginning to bear fruit and a recent example is the election of Wu Delon, president of the Taiwan Hospital Association, to the governing council of the International Hospital Federation.
In addition, the government and private sectors have spent more than US$450 million on medical supplies and emergency aid for the international community in the past 10 years. In early 2006, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the DOH together established Taiwan International Health Action, an organization integrating resources from these two sectors. It has since sent medical missions to countries like Indonesia and Peru and made itself an important international health aid organization, which definitely is a plus for Taiwan's WHO bid.
Write to Oscar Chung at oscar@mail.gio.gov.tw