Teco disappointed by WHO leader’s ‘false accusations’

THE Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Teco) in the Philippines on Monday challenged World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to apologize and immediately correct claims he made against the Republic of China (Taiwan) and its people.

In a statement, Teco said it deeply regrets the baseless accusations against the government of Taiwan by Ghebreyesus on April 8: “[The alleged] personal attacks on him...are seriously misleading to the international community,” and that he needs to “issue a clarification and apologize to the people of Taiwan.”

Teco’s statement was issued after Ghebreyesus stated in a press briefing that Taiwan has engaged a monthlong campaign against him amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. The WHO director-general claimed that since the outbreak, he has been personally attacked, including receiving at times death threats and racial slurs.

Those claims, Teco averred, were “groundless.”

Allegations ‘unclear’

GHEBREYESUS, a former Ethiopian health and foreign minister, now the WHO’S first African leader, said the attacks on him came from Taiwan. He said its diplomats were aware of such, but did not dissociate themselves from the incidents. “They even started criticizing me in the middle of all those insults and slurs,” the health executive said. “I say it today, because it’s enough.”

However, foreign news sources said the basis of

Ghebreyesus’s allegations were unclear.

The African was elected with the strong support of China, 1 of 5 permanent veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council. He has firmly backed Beijing's claims of being open and transparent about the outbreak, despite strong evidence that it suppressed early reports on infections, while echoing criticisms from the US.

Robust health system

ACCORDING to Teco, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, in a statement on Facebook, mentioned that her country has always opposed all forms of discrimination: “For years, Taiwan has been excluded from international organizations, including the WHO, and knows better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated.”

At Beijing’s insistence, Taiwan has been barred from the UN and the WHO, and was stripped of its observer status at the annual World Health Assembly.

But Taiwan insists “it has one of the world’s most robust public health systems, and has earned praises for its handling of the virus outbreak.” Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa) has weighed in by saying, “[our] government... condemns any and all forms of discrimination and injustice.”

Moreover, Mofa has claimed: “[Our] 23 million people can relate, as they have long been victimized by the politics of the global health system.”

Despite its proximity to the Chinese mainland and the frequency of travels between both sides, Taiwan has reported only 379 cases and five deaths in the wake of Covid-19.

Widely recognized model

US and Taiwanese officials met online last month to discuss ways of increasing the island’s participation in the world’s health system. This has earned the ire of Beijing, which has been opposing all official contacts between Washington D.C. and Taipei.

“The invaluable lessons learned from the 2003 [severe acute respiratory syndrome, or] SARS pandemic, has prompted Taiwan to very quickly take effective preventive and proactive response measures against Covid-19, including treatment, tracking, quarantine and mitigation,” Teco explained. “Thus, Taiwan created a widely recognized [model] that the international community hopes to learn from.”

It also mentioned that on April 9, Taiwan—under itsnewsouthboundpolicy—announcedthedonation of 6 million medical masks to partner-countries and other friendly nations, and confirmed, “The Philippines will receive 300,000 medical masks.”

“We hereby urge WHO to invite Taiwan to fully participate in all [its] meetings and mechanisms regardingthefightagainstcovid-19,andrestoretaiwan’s observer status in the World Health Assembly,” Teco shared in its latest statement.

It added that Taiwan’s being granted full involvement in the WHO would allow the sharing of its successful experience with the world more effectively, and put an end to the pandemic as quickly as possible.

“Health for all, Taiwan can help and Taiwan is helping,” Teco concluded.