A Big Thank You from Taiwan to America!

America the MORAL Superpower!

Taiwan has been and continues to be one of the worst-hit areas of the SARS epidemic. At the outbreak of the disease, China's cover-up and obstructionism put many Taiwanese tourists and businessmen in China at risk. This risk has been realised since then, with Taiwan officially becoming the 2nd most infected area outside of China proper last week

While the World Health Organisation/Assembly has quickly assisted all other nations at risk from SARS, the most they have come to "helping" us is to issue a global "Medium Risk" travel advisory against us, and send two investigators (with the begrudging approval of China) to Taiwan where they proceeded to upgrade that advisory to "High Risk". It has refused all of Taiwan's requests for information, technical assistance, medical expert support, etc. In effect, Taiwan has had to struggle on her own through this entire ordeal.

Why? Because China prevents Taiwan from becoming a member of WHA, forbids WHA from working with Taiwan on SARS, while telling the whole world that it is taking care of Taiwan. In truth, China has not done A SINGLE GOD-DAMN THING for Taiwan!

Yesterday, Taiwan mounted its biggest ever campaign to join the WHA as a "observer member". And, as in the previous three years, the proposal failed.

The Assembly's steering committee killed the proposal before it got to the floor in an 7-23 vote.

Taiwan's opponents were led by China's Foreign Minister Wu Yi, who launched a similarly intense lobbying campaign to block Taiwan's proposal, and spoke out sharply against the proposal in committee.

Taiwan's supporters were her traditional allies, and unexpectedly, the U.S. delegate, Health Department Secretary Tommy Thompson, who not only made a pointed public comment against China's absurd and heartless claim of having "taken care of Taiwan", but launched into several intense exchanges with Wu Yi over the course of the debate. America's staunch moral and substantive support, in the face of European silence and general cowering by Third World nations, has kept the Taiwan delegation hopeful despite this setback.

Taiwan doesn't ask for much. Observer membership doesn't even permit voting, but merely access to information on what is a proven global killer epidemic... to save lives in Taiwan and in the long run those of others around the world. One of our countrymen has already accidently spread the disease to Japan.

All Taiwan asked is for the world community to show a little bit of decency and compassion, that they might consider LIVES before petty politics. Yet in the end, only a handful of our well-paid allies and America dared to speak for us (where are the moral French now?). Just in case you guys ever harboured any illusions that justice and morality held any more sway in diplomacy elsewhere in the world, this ought to dispel all that.

Here's to America!!! Despite its many sins, she remains the MORAL superpower. And for that, she will forever remain within the hearts of Taiwanese people.

 

On CNN two days ago:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/19/taiwan.who/index.html

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- As Taiwan struggles to contain the SARS virus sweeping across the land, officials say the fact the island is not a member of the World Health Organization has made their task harder.

"The whole world recognizes that if Taiwan is not part of the WHO or part of the international medical community, then Taiwan is going to be a serious loophole in containing the SARS disease," says Joseph Wu, Taiwan Presidential Advisor.

Indeed, it took seven weeks after Taiwan's first SARS case before the WHO dispatched two experts here, and then, only with Beijing's permission.

Taiwan now has the third-highest number of SARS victims behind China and Hong Kong.

Taiwan's health minister Twu Shiing-jer quit his post Friday over criticism of the way authorities have handled the outbreak.

His decision came after numerous complaints about disorganization, lack of effective crisis management planning, and political bickering.

Dr. Lee Ming liang, who heads Taiwan's anti-SARS effort, says that Taiwan being out of the WHO loop during a critical time made a bad situation worse.

"We kept sending out results and results. We got some response but not in an active way," says Dr. Lee.

The island's hospitals have been particularly hard hit, with three reporting clusters of SARS patients in the past few days.

Hundreds of doctors and patients have been quarantined. A number of doctors quarantined have been respiratory disease specialists.

"Because we didn't have those kinds of data and procedures from the WHO, that is the reason why we had the hospital outbreak a few weeks ago," says Wu.

Taiwan has been seeking WHO entry, or at least observer status, long before SARS.

But Beijing, which views the island as a renegade Chinese province, has consistently blocked such efforts.

"Taiwan, as a province of China, is not entitled to join the WHO or participate as an observer," says Zhang Qiyue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

"We are strongly opposed to the attempt of Taiwan to join the WHO in any capacity."

Taiwan officials say that just shows Beijing is playing politics with SARS, although analysts point out the island has certainly tried to exploit SARS to push its own agenda for a higher profile, separate from China.

Despite the outbreak, the signs indicate Taiwan's application for WHO observer status will be rejected at this week's meeting of the organization's administrative body in Geneva.

It is likely that deference to Beijing's political sensitivities will outweigh public health concerns as the SARS epidemic in Taiwan continues to spiral out of control.

 

On today's Taipei Times:

Supporters feel pain of defeat

MIXED EMOTIONS: Some cried, but most people who made the long trek to Geneva felt anger at China's full court press on the attempt to join the World Health Assembly

By Melody Chen
STAFF REPORTER IN GENEVA

Wednesday, May 21, 2003,Page 3

There were tears, anger and regret in Geneva on Monday as supporters of Taiwan's attempt to become an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA) learned that the application had failed for the seventh year in a row.

Before the start of the ass-embly's general committee meeting on Monday morning, members of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan raised banners in the square in front of the assembly venue, appealing for support for Taiwan's bid.

A handful of alliance members carried colorful banners that criticized in different languages the World Health Organization's (WHO) isolation of Taiwan during the worldwide SARS outbreak.

Among the banner-holders were Presidential Advisor Wu Shuh-min (§d¾ð¥Á), head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission Chang Fu-mei (±i´I¬ü), and Giovanni Juang (²ø®¶¿A), an Italy-based Taiwanese businessman committed to promoting Taiwan's entrance into the WHO.

"WHO isolates Taiwan?" read the English banner. The group, led by Lin Shih-chia (ªL¥@¹Å), executive director of the alliance, shouted, "Cheer up, Taiwan!"

Their voices were loud, but the appeal was ignored. A few hours later, the WHA general committee kicked out the proposal to include Taiwan's application to be a WHA observer in the assembly agenda.

Lin and his team of supporters were not surprised. To quash Taiwan's efforts, Wu Yi (§d»ö), China's vice premier and minister of health, led China's delegation to Geneva and spoke out against Taiwan in the WHA general committee.

Realizing that the application had failed, Lin's voice, which had been chanting slogans all morning, wavered and finally cracked. She stopped, hugged a colleague and cried.

"I am thinking about those who have died of SARS in Taiwan," she sobbed.

After the general committee, Lin said that one of her friends spotted Wu Yi about to leave the building where the meeting took place.

Keen to present the Chinese official with one of the group's green T-shirts with the words "Say Yes to Taiwan" printed on the back, the friend moved toward Wu but was immediately stopped by assembly security guards. Standing nearby wearing their own green T-shirts were Lin and Chary Hsu (³\¨Î´f), a Taiwanese reporter.

The security guards ordered Lin and Hsu to take off their T-shirts. Lin did so, but Hsu hesitated because she had nothing on underneath apart from her underwear.

"About five or six security guards surrounded me, all staring at me as I took off the T-shirt," Hsu said.

When Hsu took off her T-shirt, Lin's friend quickly covered her with his coat.

"I felt harassed," Hsu said.

The security guards took a note of their passports and allowed them to go.

Meanwhile, during the assembly's second plenary meeting that followed the general committee, the observer bid was raised again. China and Pakistan spoke against Taiwan, whereas Senegal and Panama appealed on the country's behalf.

Officials from Taiwan were forced to listen to the debate from the assembly's public gallery.

DPP Legislator Lee Ming-hseng (§õ©ú¾Ë) shouted in protest as China told of how it had been looking after Taiwan's health.

Security guards stepped in and ordered Lee to keep his voice down. When Lee protested for the second time, security guards ejected him from the gallery.

"I came to realize how capable Chinese officials are of lying. I was so angry," said Lee, who is attending the WHA for the first time.

Lee said he and other lawmakers encountered Chinese officials as they left the meeting.

"I told them they had violated human rights and that they have no right to determine our business," Lee said.

Chen Mao-nan (³¯_Z¨k), another DPP legislator, said he had never before so acutely felt China's rudeness and unreasonableness.

Chen and KMT Legislator Sun Kauo-hwa (®]°êµØ) both gave China a thumbs-down gesture during its speech at the WHO.

"Sun has often been classified as an advocate for Taiwan's unification with China. However, even he was angered by China's behavior," Chen said.

Sun expressed his disappointment with China. "They said that Taiwan's proposal happens year after year just to waste everybody's time. That was pretty cunning," Sun said.

"But the worst thing was that they kept saying they have helped Taiwan," Sun said.

"When traveling back to our government, we have to think about the so-called mutual communication across the Taiwan Strait so that we will not be used as a political tool," he said.

Sun said his blood was boiling as he listened to Wu Yi's speech in the plenary meeting and called the speech "an insult."

"They are a communist regime. What else can you expect from them?" Sun said.

 

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My people are DYING out there. So why don't you go f*ck yourself, a$$hole.
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http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/05/13/205772

Presidential Office hits out at China's intransigence

MEDDLING: Officials said that China's claim it had Taiwan's health situation under control was a `shameless lie' and blasted Beijing for blocking urgent WHO assistance

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER

Tuesday, May 13, 2003,Page 3

As the nation's SARS outbreak was estimated to be effectively brought under control in less than seven weeks, the Presidential Office yesterday blasted China for blocking Taiwan from gaining accession to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"China keeps saying that Taiwan's health is under its care," said deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, Joseph Wu. "Well, that is a shameless lie."

"It's as much a lie as its claim that there was no SARS problem in Beijing in early April," Wu said.

Wu called on the international community to support Taiwan's bid to join the WHO as an observer, so that the nation could get access to assistance from the international body, especially in a time of need.

"The fact is that the WHO cannot do without Taiwan and Taiwan cannot do without the WHO," he said.

Wu made the remarks yesterday morning during a bimonthly meeting with about 20 foreign correspondents at the Presidential Office to brief them on the development of the nation's SARS outbreak and the implementation of prevention initiatives.

Also present were Lee Ming-liang, head of the SARS prevention command center under the SARS response committee and Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist and member of the SARS-research task force under the same committee.

According to Lee, the nation's SARS outbreak should be restrained in less than seven weeks if the nation does not see any mass transmissions in medical institutions and if the public cooperates with the government's prevention measures.

Lee also called on the WHO to provide Taiwan with more updated and timely SARS-related information to help the nation better battle the epidemic.

"Since we're not a member of the international body, the WHO hasn't provided us with any updated information, forcing us to obtain the information from their global Web site," Lee said. "We desperately need its help as well as that from the US and other countries."

Wu told the foreign press that although the government appreciates the WHO's dispatch of two medical experts to help it monitor the outbreak, the assistance seems insufficient.

"They're under clear instructions from WHO headquarters not to engage in direct contact with our officials, not to make any public statements or to do many other things that are deemed essential to the containment of the outbreak," Wu said.

While the WHO has dispatched its Global Outbreak Alert Response Network to Vietnam and Hong Kong to help the two countries combat the outbreak, Wu said the nation would like the international body to offer such assistance.

"But we couldn't possibly get it because we're excluded from the international body," he said.

Presidential Office Spokesman James Huang yesterday also dismissed media speculation that Lee's appointment as the chief commander of the SARS prevention command center has a lot to do with President Chen Shui-bian's displeasure with Department of Health Director-General Twu Shiing-jer's performance.

"The arrangement is made to strengthen the functions of the response mechanism," Huang said.

 

On today's CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/21/sars/index.html

WHO extends Taiwan SARS warning
Wednesday, May 21, 2003 Posted: 1129 GMT ( 7:29 PM HKT)


HONG KONG, China -- The World Health Organization has broadened its advisory against travel to all of Taiwan, as the island struggles to cope with the fastest-growing outbreak of the SARS virus in the world.

The WHO on May 8 warned travelers to defer trips to the Taiwan capital of Taipei but on Wednesday extended its caution to include all of the province.

While the rest of Asia as well as Canada are making significant headway in the fight against SARS, the same cannot be said of Taiwan where the number of new SARS cases has been spiraling higher.

Taipei on Wednesday reported 35 new SARS cases, a slight drop from a record rise of 39 the day before, but it brought the island's confirmed cases to 418.

In a bout of good news for the region, the World Health Organization (WHO) has taken the Philippines off its travel advisory list, after the Southeast Asian nation recorded no new SARS cases for 20 days.

Australia's foreign ministry also removed Singapore from its travel advisory list. The island-state has reported just one new case in the past three weeks.

As SARS shows signs of ebbing in many parts of Asia, all eyes have shifted to Taiwan, which has the third-highest count after China and Hong Kong.

So far 52 people have died on the island.

Even more troubling for health officials is the jump in the number of people with SARS-like symptoms.

Health officials are working off a backlog of more than 474 SARS-related cases -- people showing symptoms but who have not yet been confirmed with the flu-like virus. The cases are listed as "pending" and were yet to be determined as SARS infections.

This means the total number of cases could yet rise dramatically.

Last week, Taiwan's Minister of Health Twu Shiing-jer quit over criticism of the way authorities were handling the outbreak.

Sources close to the battle say Taiwan is at a crossroads, with officials saying their efforts are being hampered by the fact they are not part of the WHO. (Linked story: WHO rebuffs Taiwan)

In Taiwan's hospitals -- where over 90 percent of the cases have struck -- many doctors and nurses are already ill or in quarantine, and over 100 more have quit their jobs, too afraid to care for the victims.

Taiwan's authorities are furious and one newspaper compared the medical personnel to soldiers fleeing in battle. (Linked story: Panic hits Taiwan hospitals)

Unless officials move quickly to contain the outbreak in hospitals and do a more effective job of tracing contacts, the epidemic risks taking a turn for the worse with potentially serious consequences for the health care system, they say.

 

I wanted to add that the only real help in Taiwan's fight against SARS came from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) based in Atlanta.

They, under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Health, responded quickly and dispatched a team from the moment we reported our first case. God bless them!

Taiwan has 23 million people, more than 2/3 of the countries in the United Nations, more than Iraq, more than Sweden+Finland+Denmark+Norway combined.

But I guess for China, France, and all those "holier-than-America" nations, their oh-so-poignant concern for human life apparently evaporate the moment it runs into politics and $$$.

 

Thanks MadMax. This guy Robbie380 (though i've had lots of pleasant discussions with him on other matters) obviously doesn't understand that THIS is not just a political question. It's a matter of saving and destroying lives. A choice between pure good and pure evil.

How can the Chinese lose perspective in such a spectacular fashion? I expected a little more wisdom. The Chinese government might be too idiotic to realise it now (they're probably still gloating over their "victory"), but they've just made enemies of 23 million people.

 

double post