The use of “Chinese Taipei” as Taiwan’s designation at the World Health Assembly (WHA) was a scam used to cheat the public, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan’s real title at the health assembly was “Taiwan, province of China.”
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) told a press conference she suspected that “Chinese Taipei” was simply the epithet that Taiwan uses at the WHA.
“It’s similar to the WTO, where Taiwan’s full title is the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. But for the sake of convenience, we are known as Chinese Taipei,” she said.
Kuan said that as of 10am yesterday, the WHO still regarded Taiwan as part of China because it had listed Taiwan’s first confirmed H1N1 case as a Chinese case.
“At 6:44pm on Thursday, the WHO Web site showed that China had seven confirmed cases. But at 8:22pm, the number jumped to eight. I have credible information that the additional case was the case from Taiwan,” she said.
Last night, WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi was quoted by a Central News Aency report as saying that Taiwan’s confirmed swine flu cases are all listed under China.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said the fact that the WHO regards Taiwan as part of China proved that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has failed to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty.
She said that in 2003, Taiwan successfully protested against the WHO when the health body lumped Taiwan and China together during the SARS epidemic.
“Taiwan was not even a WHA observer at that time, but the DPP government was able to persuade the WHO to rectify its mistake. Why is it that the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] has no problem submitting to China?” the lawmaker asked.
She also attacked Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川), accusing him of knowingly disregarding Taiwan’s public health after he failed to have his temperature taken at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport when returning from the WHA meeting in Geneva.
“He is supposedly the top health official in our country, yet his actions tell the public that it isn’t necessary to take precautions. What a huge insult,” she said.
In response, Yeh and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said yesterday that the CDC was waiting to see how the WHO would handle the reporting and registering of Taiwan’s A(H1N1) influenza cases.
“We will do what we need to do. But for now let our diplomats do their jobs,” Yeh said. “The worst- case scenario will be that they label us as ‘Taiwan, China.’”
Shih said during yesterday’s press conference that the CDC has so far only reported the first confirmed case because officials were waiting for the WHO’s decision on how to handle the issue of Taiwan’s name.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG AND STAFF WRITER
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