Two World Health Organization (WHO) experts arrived in Taipei last night to help with Taiwan's outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, according government and WHO officials.
WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said in a telephone interview late last night that experts with the communicable disease section of the WHO were in Taiwan to do a "preliminary assessment" of the SARS outbreak.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The experts are scheduled to stay in Taiwan for "a few days, or maybe a week" for their work, which was being done out of humanitarian concern, Thompson said.
The WHO will then decide whether it will dispatch more personnel to Taiwan, he said.
Senior officials yesterday were skeptical about China's role in the WHO's decision to send a professional team to help with Taiwan's outbreak of the potentially fatal flu-like disease.
Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
"Since the very beginning of the outbreak here, we've been in close and direct contact with the WHO," Lin said. "China played no part in the WHO's deciding to send medical experts to help us combat the disease."
China's Ministry of Health (MOH) said late Friday through Xinhua that China had allowed WHO officials could come to Taiwan to investigate the epidemic.
The Xinhua report also said the ministry would cooperate with Taiwan by sharing its experience and information with Taiwan in order to fight the spread of SARS.
According to Xinhua, the ministry also said the Chinese government has been very concerned about Taiwanese people's welfare and that the government has been very attentive to the development of SARS in Taiwan.
"I don't have faith in China," said Lee Lung-teng (李龍騰), deputy director-general of the Department of Health (DOH).
"On the basis of how China has treated us in the past, I don't think they could be sincere this time," Lee said.
Lee added he did not think China had displayed much goodwill when agreeing to an official WHO trip to Taiwan. "They [China] only want the WHO to see they are really taking care of Taiwan," Lee said.
According to Lee, China also intended to show off its influence over the WHO by agreeing with the officials' trip to Taiwan. "The WHO officials cannot come to Taiwan without China nodding its head," he said.
"They are simply playing politics. I will not play politics with them," Lee said.
Chen Ming-tung (
Even though China has allowed the WHO officials to come to Taiwan, it still opposes Taiwan's entrance into the WHO because it simply will not compromise on its sovereignty disputes with Taiwan, Chen said.
Meanwhile, Wu Shuh-min (
"What can they do here? They can hardly help. As for us, we could at most but provide them with our experience [in combating SARS]," Wu said.
Wu, a doctor and president of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan (FMPAT), Taiwan's major lobbying group in the WHA, is under quarantine, though he remains healthy.
"China permitted WHO officials to visit Taiwan because it is under massive pressure from the international community," Wu said.
According to Wu, China has often claimed it takes care of Taiwanese people's health.
"However, the SARS outbreak in Taiwan has pulverized China's myth," he said.
Taiwan's first imported SARS case came from China, said the Center for Disease Control.
Taiwan and many other countries are suffering from China's cover-ups of its SARS outbreak. "I am really curious whether China still has the guts to proclaim to the member states in the WHA that it always takes care of the Taiwanese people's health," Wu said.
Also See Stories:
SARS lines opened for foreigners
SARS epidemic: Ma warns of SARS fight ahead in city
SARS epidemic: Executive Yuan announces insurance plan
SARS epidemic: Chen postpones diplomatic trip to Central America
SARS epidemic: Lawmaker urges quarantine overhaul
SARS epidemic: Taiwan `medium' SARS-virus risk, WHO announces
US lawmakers want role for Taiwan at the WHO
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
Air and rail traffic around Taiwan were disrupted today while power cuts occurred across the country as Typhoon Kong-rey, predicted to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon, continued edging closer to the country. A total of 241 passenger and cargo flights departing from or arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were canceled today due to the typhoon, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. As of 9:30am, 109 inbound flights, 103 outbound flights and 29 cargo flights had been canceled, the company said. Taiwan Railway Corp also canceled all express trains on its Western Trunk Line, Eastern Trunk Line, South-Link Line and attached branches
Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon and would move out to sea sometime overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 9am today, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north. The storm's center was 110km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving northwest at 28kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184kph, and gusts of up to 227kph, the CWA said. At a news conference this morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between
RSS