As if it didn't already have its hands full fighting the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Taiwan also has to deal with the appalling way it is treated by the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO's disregard for the health and welfare of the people of this country for political reasons is no better than China's deliberate concealment of the epidemic. At least the Chinese government has finally managed to muster a long-overdue and now meaningless apology for its shameful conduct. When will the WHO correct its own mistake?
The WHO has consistently referred to this country as "Taiwan, China" or "Taiwan Province" of China, totally disregarding the nation's sovereignty. Perhaps in the eyes of the international community the statehood of Taiwan continues to be a question open to debate. But, as a supposedly non-political international organization, it is entirely out of place for the WHO to take sides in this debate. The least it could do is to remain neutral on the issue by simply referring to this country as "Taiwan," without making any further interpretation of the country's status.
When asked by the media about the issue, WHO officials have replied that what Taiwan is called is a "political question" about which they cannot comment. But by reducing Taiwan to a mere Chinese province in its lists and news releases, the WHO is clearly "commenting" on the issue.
Worse yet, in the global battle against SARS, Taiwan is excluded from all WHO assistance. The only outside help it has received thus far is from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
WHO officials have openly conceded it is "difficult" to offer Taiwan any assistance since it is not a WHO member. But doesn't this demonstrate the need to allow Taiwan to join the organization, or at the very least let it be an observer? If Taiwan was truly a Chinese province, then it should be able to receive WHO assistance via China, which is already a WHO member. In reality, that is entirely impossible, because China and Taiwan are ruled by different governments.
The message is loud and clear: Unless Taiwan reduces itself to become a Chinese province, no WHO help will be forthcoming, however badly needed this assistance may be. China naturally did not miss the chance to highlight this point by offering to help Taiwan combat the SARS epidemic. In view of China's disastrous handling of the epidemic so far, only a fool would accept that kind of offer.
Much to the comfort of Taiwanese, some true friends have expressed their support. In the past few days, both the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group and the US Congress' Taiwan Caucus have criticized the WHO and called for Taiwan to be allowed to be a WHO observer. Furthermore, on Thursday, the Canadian Parliament passed a resolution supporting Taiwan's WHO bid. The US House of Representatives has also passed legislation requiring the US secretary of state to help Taiwan join the organization.
On the other hand, there is Thailand, which treats travelers from Taiwan the same as those from China by requiring them to undergo physical checkups upon arrival and wear surgical masks for the first 14 days of their visits. This is obviously because Thailand thinks that Taiwan is part of China. It is very likely that Thailand was influenced by the WHO's attitude.
The WHO should live up to its name and truly serve as the health organization for the whole world, including Taiwan.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
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