WHO hung up upon hearing Taiwan

[clh_hilary]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl4dFRDBWvE



Hong Kong's state media RTHK interviewed an official of the WHO (who once said he would rather be treated in China if he had the coronavirus):



Reporter: Will the WHO reconsider Taiwan's membership?



WHO: *silence*



Reporter: Hello?



WHO: I'm sorry, I can't hear your question, Yvonne.



Reporter: Okay, let me repeat the question.



WHO: No, that's okay. Let's move on to another one then.



Reporter: I'm actually in talking about Taiwan as well, on Taiwan's case.



WHO: *hung up*



Reporter: *called again*



Reporter: I just want to see if you can comment a bit on how Taiwan has done so far in terms of containing the virus.



WHO: Well, we've already talked about China, and you know, when you look across all the different areas of China, they've actually all done quite a good job. So with that, I'd like to thank you very much for inviting us to participate, and good luck as you go forward with the battle in Hong Kong.



---



An apolitical, objective, science-based organization everybody!

 

[Farawayhills]

If she used the name "Taiwan", it may have caused much of the difficulty. On its own, I think that name is particularly associated with independence ("Two Chinas") advocates. The official name is still "Republic of China" (regarding itself as the legitimate continuation of the 1912 republic). It does sometimes use names like ROC (Taiwan), to avoid ambiguity - but Taiwan alone goes against both its 'de jure' claim to the mainland provinces, and its 'de facto' control of islands much nearer to the mainland than they are to Taiwan itself.

The Peoples Republic of China objects to the island government's use of the name Republic of China - and often rejects dealings with countries that still use that name for the territories controlled by that government. That could create difficulties for the WHO (which currently sees a high priority in getting as much information as possible on the mainland government's experience in dealing with the outbreak)

In common with other organizations, the WHO does have some dealings with the island government, under the name "Chinese Taipei". (This name is also controversial, but is considered a compromise more compatible with both governments' claims - since both governments do still regard it technically as an "area of China"). If she'd used that name, it's possible she might have got more of a reply (but in the present climate, you never know...)

 

[clh_hilary]

If she used the name "Taiwan", it may have caused much of the difficulty. On its own, I think that name is particularly associated with independence ("Two Chinas") advocates. The official name is still "Republic of China" (regarding itself as the legitimate continuation of the 1912 republic). It does sometimes use names like ROC (Taiwan), to avoid ambiguity - but Taiwan alone goes against both its 'de jure' claim to the mainland provinces, and its 'de facto' control of islands much nearer to the mainland than they are to Taiwan itself.

The Peoples Republic of China objects to the island government's use of the name Republic of China - and often rejects dealings with countries that still use that name for the territories controlled by that government. That could create difficulties for the WHO (which currently sees a high priority in getting as much information as possible on the mainland government's experience in dealing with the outbreak)

In common with other organizations, the WHO does have some dealings with the island government, under the name "Chinese Taipei". (This name is also controversial, but is considered a compromise more compatible with both governments' claims - since both governments do still regard it technically as an "area of China"). If she'd used that name, it's possible she might have got more of a reply (but in the present climate, you never know...)

That's not true. The WHO shuts Taiwan out completely. Chinese Taipei is in the Olympics.

The People's Republic of China officially calls Taiwan, Taiwan (province of China), so Taiwan should not have been an issue. And you can see how the WHO simply said that he's already talked about China.

 

[Farawayhills]

That's not true. The WHO shuts Taiwan out completely. Chinese Taipei is in the Olympics.

The People's Republic of China officially calls Taiwan, Taiwan (province of China), so Taiwan should not have been an issue. And you can see how the WHO simply said that he's already talked about China.

Actually the WHO hasn't completely shut out the Republic of China. They have sent delegates, by invitation, to the WHO congress, under the name "Chinese Taipei" (a name which is used by other organizations, not just the Olympics). I think this is in fact the only example of the ROC participating in any UN agency since 1971. (For it to continue, the WHO would need to renew the invitation each year, so it is not full membership rights).
Despite the actions of some protestors, it does seem that the participation under that name is acceptable to a large majority in the ROC (and also obtained the agreement of the PROC government, which has held the official seat in the UN and its agencies since the early 1970s)

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLI62888

In the telephone conversation, the second answer that the WHO spokesperson gave seems to have been a belated attempt to briefly answer the query without causing a potential diplomatic problem. He said "when you look across all the different areas of China, they've actually all done quite a good job." Both the ROC and the PROC do nominally consider Taiwan to be one of the areas of China, so it can be seen as a way of acknowledging that both governments had acted in this outbreak, without implying the diplomatically highly contentious concept of 'Two Chinas' (a concept advocated by some of the opposition groups in the ROC, but currently rejected by its constitution, and by both governments)

 

[clh_hilary]

Actually the WHO hasn't completely shut out the Republic of China. They have sent delegates, by invitation, to the WHO congress, under the name "Chinese Taipei" (a name which is used by other organizations, not just the Olympics). I think this is in fact the only example of the ROC participating in any UN agency since 1971. (For it to continue, the WHO would need to renew the invitation each year, so it is not full membership rights).
Despite the actions of some protestors, it does seem that the participation under that name is acceptable to a large majority in the ROC (and also obtained the agreement of the PROC government, which has held the official seat in the UN and its agencies since the early 1970s)

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLI62888

In the telephone conversation, the second answer that the WHO spokesperson gave seems to have been a belated attempt to briefly answer the query without causing a potential diplomatic problem. He said "when you look across all the different areas of China, they've actually all done quite a good job." Both the ROC and the PROC do nominally consider Taiwan to be one of the areas of China, so it can be seen as a way of acknowledging that both governments had acted in this outbreak, without implying the diplomatically highly contentious concept of 'Two Chinas' (a concept advocated by some of the opposition groups in the ROC, but currently rejected by its constitution, and by both governments)

This article does not say they're represented at the WHO as Chinese Taipei, but that they are represented at the WTO as Chinese Taipei. They are not represented at the WHO. The WHO calls Taiwan "Taipei and surrounding area" or simply sweep it under China. The fact that Taiwan (and in fact Hong Kong) is able to be represented at multiple international organizations makes the WHO look even worse.

Yes, I'd say his third attempt (first attempt was to pretend not to hear it; second attempt was to hang up) was a diplomatic attempt. Nevertheless, he's free to talk about Hong Kong's battle against the coronavirus, so why couldn't he have commented on Taiwan's specifically? The European Union, some UK politicians, Israel, and New Zealand are now all now talking about the Taiwanese model to defeat the coronavirus, but somehow the World Health Organization cannot. The refusal to acknowledge Taiwan and their ways of fighting the coronavirus, is a direct threat to the people who only listen to thw WHO and are now left without knowing about a successful example. But then, the WHO has been doing appallingly this time around, doing China's bidding - In January, saying there's no new cases, then there's no evidence for human-to-human transmissions, then that it's only "limited" human-to-human transmissions, then there shouldn't be any travel restrictions in order to protect the economy, that it's not a global emergency, that China was containing the virus (clearly wasn't). The UK government has recently been advised that the real Chinese numbers are 15-40 times higher, and we now also know that their testing kits - as used by The Philippines, Spain, The Czech Republic, Turkey - are so unreliable that there's only an accuracy of 20-40%. We also observed that China kept changing the way they counted their cases, which led to the numbers going wonky in the last month. But what does the WHO say? China is doing great and everyone should thank them.

They even censored their medical advice to please China. They used to advise against the use of traditional herbal remedies on all languages other than their Chinese page (China was pushing traditional Chinese medicine - which includes having bats to strengthen one's lungs), then they removed it from their English page, and eventually all languages.

"Two Chinas" is not advocated by any political group in Taiwan. To the KMT, it's one China ruling over Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, half of Mongolia and some other places (only that their China is the one currently based in Taipei instead of the one in Beijing); to the current ruling party, it's one China, one Taiwan (ie no territorial claims on the Chinese mainland and other areas they do not have active control over right now).