Unsavory exploiting of virus outbreak

Speaking in Taipei on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the island’s executive body, said that Taiwan, which has reported 11 cases of the virus, has received very limited information and has been unable to get it quickly because of its exclusion from the World Health Organization. She blamed Beijing for “using the ‘one China’ principle to impede Taiwan from taking part in the WHO’s technical meetings”, saying the act was “extremely vile” in nature.

Despite the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak being one of the gravest misfortunes the Chinese people have suffered in decades, there are clearly some on the island who hope to exploit it as a means to promote their secessionist ambitions, having long sought membership of international organizations as recognition of statehood.

With this in mind, the spokesperson simply told a lie. By denying that proper arrangements are in place for Taiwan to participate in global health affairs and to conduct exchanges on epidemics with WHO public health experts, the spokesperson was trying to fan resentment against the Chinese mainland for political purposes.

The WHO says Taiwan has been getting all the information it needs. And Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Tuesday that the mainland has kept Taiwan updated on the epidemic, including information about Taiwan residents confirmed to have been infected on the mainland. It has also arranged for Taiwan experts to visit Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Although it knows the WHO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that recognizes one China and Taiwan as part of China, the island’s administration under secessionist-minded Tsai Ing-wen is hoping that by playing the victim card in this way, it will be able to further alienate the compatriots on the island from the Chinese mainland. That is extremely vile.

Reinforcing that the Tsai administration views the outbreak as a good chance to further its cause, Lai Ching-te, who will take office as the island’s deputy leader in May, is now visiting the United States despite the mainland’s strong opposition to any official contact between the island and the US.

Writing on her Facebook page, Tsai expressed the wish that “in the face of the virus human rights and humanitarianism should be put before political considerations”. It is to be hoped that she will follow that principle herself, and her administration will stop trying to use the outbreak for political gains.