WHO took down statement regarding Taiwan as calls for the island’s inclusion grows

Since WHO senior advisor Bruce Aylward awkwardly refused to answer a question about Taiwan during an interview with Hong Kong’s RTHK in March, discussion about Taiwan’s inclusion to WHO has been gaining momentum. On Monday, WHO removed a public statement about Taiwan after posting it online for less than 24 hours. The move raised more suspicion about the organization’s deliberation between “health” and “politics.”

Since the coronavirus outbreak became a pandemic, many governments and political parties around the world have been showing support for Taiwan’s inclusion to WHO. In response, the organization has tried to publicly prove that it had not intentionally isolated Taiwan. However, its latest action renewed the months-long suspicion on this particular topic.

On April 5, WHO published a public statement titled “How the World Health Organization works with all people, everywhere,” in which the organization emphasized that there have been misunderstandings on social media and the news media about “how WHO manages global public health issues,” and according to the statement, there are lots of questions about Taiwan and China.

However, less than 24 hours after the statement was posted online, it was removed from WHO’s website. According to a web cache preserved by netizens, WHO wrote in the statement that some people have been confusing the organization’s global public health mandate with the mandate of countries to determine WHO’s membership.

“Countries decide this. The WHO Secretariat focuses on keeping the world safe,” WHO wrote.

The organization went on to reiterate that its primary function is to “promote the health of all people, everywhere,” and one of its overarching goals is Universal Health Coverage. “We are an organization with a staff of physicians, scientists, researchers and public health experts who are committed to serving all people regardless of nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, gender,” WHO wrote.

It is currently unclear why WHO has decided to take down the public statement, and I have reached out to WHO for comment. So far, they have not responded.

In the statement, WHO also repeatedly emphasized that they communicate with Taiwan regularly through multiple channels, but the Taiwanese government said those claims didn’t offer the full picture of the reality. Here are four main disputes based on each side’s explanation.

1. Taiwan’s early warning wasn’t taken seriously by WHO

WHO claimed that there is an established International Health Regulations (IHR) Point of Contact (POC) for Taiwan, which serves as the contact window for Taiwan to receive information and provide updates directly to WHO headquarters.

However, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center said Taiwan warned WHO about the possibility that the coronavirus could be transmitted between human beings via e-mail on December 31, 2019.

Upon receiving the information, the POC merely acknowledged that the information had been transferred to the relevant department, and there were no follow-up since then. This makes Taiwan and the international community think that WHO has not taken the warning from Taiwan seriously, and it may have contributed to the delayed global response to the COVID19 pandemic.

2. Did WHO take cases from Taiwan into consideration?

WHO also wrote in the deleted statement that health experts from Taiwan had participated in two key WHO networks set up in January 2020 to “support WHO work in the global COVID-19 response.”

“Three experts from Taiwan are part of the WHO Infection Prevention and Control Network: two are part of the WHO Clinical Network,” WHO wrote in the statement. “Every week, they join some 60 to 80 other experts from around the globe through a WHO-hosted teleconference, working to advance our knowledge and guidance in this response.”

Taiwan’s CECC said the government has been sharing information about all new cases and the prevention measures that Taiwan has adopted with WHO since the beginning of the COVID19 outbreak. However, WHO never put the information shared by Taiwan into the IHR Event Information Site (EIS) system.

“Information provided by Taiwan never showed up on WHO’s daily updates, which makes other countries unable to understand the current situation in Taiwan and the measures that the Taiwanese government has adopted,” said the CECC.

CECC concluded that these facts contradict with WHO’s claims that they have been learning from all the regions, including Taiwan.

3. A mere presence or actual participation?

WHO also emphasized that two public health experts from Taiwan participated in the Global Research and Innovation Forum organized by WHO on February 11 and 12, 2020.

“They took part, alongside other world scientists, in considering critical research questions and in finding ways to work together to advance the response,” WHO wrote.

However, Taiwan’s CECC said that since the two Taiwanese experts were only able to join the forum through videoconference, they were unable to directly interact with representatives from other countries and discuss the development of the outbreak and prevention measures adopted by different countries.

“They also didn’t have a chance to approach potential donors and talk about the possibility of getting funding for the development of vaccines and medications for COVID19,” said Taiwan’s CECC.

4. How has WHO handled the “Taiwan Problem”

In the deleted statement, WHO wrote that some people might think the composition of WHO’s membership will affect its ability to keep the world safe. They said the world needs to understand how WHO is governed and how it operates in practice.

“There have been 14 times over the last 22 years when countries discussed whether a delegation from Taiwan could attend the World Health Assembly as an observer,” wrote WHO. “Each time the countries decided against it by consensus — except in 1997 and 2004 when there were votes: (by 128 votes to 19 in 1997; and by 133 votes to 25 in 2004). In 2007, the issue wasn’t observer status, but membership, and countries decided against considering that by a vote of 148 to 17.”

WHO said there had been occasions when WHO member states form a consensus to support Taiwan to take an observer seat at the World Health Assembly under the name “Chinese Taipei.”

“But having a seat at the WHA, or not having a seat at the WHA, does not affect, in any way, whether an area or population benefits from WHO expertise and guidance,” WHO wrote. “WHO helps all people, everywhere.”

WHO emphasized that they interact with experts from Taiwan throughout the year and it is always through “well-established” arrangements. “During the current COVID-19 pandemic, interactions have been stepped up, both through existing channels and new ones as well,” wrote WHO.

However, Taiwan said that as the coronavirus spread across borders at unprecedented rates, it has become clear that speed is the key to contain the outbreak. The Taiwanese government calls on WHO to set aside its consideration and allow Taiwan to join all relevant meetings without any “special arrangements.”

“As WHO tries to facilitate a global response to the COVID19 outbreak, we urge them to put away any political consideration and let Taiwan participate in all the conferences, mechanisms and initiatives related to COVID19,” said Taiwan’s CECC.

This article was first published on DW’s Chinese site.