Taiwan's exclusion from the WHO, other injustices, and the danger these pose to the world

2008-05-03: EV71 Outbreak In China Sparks Fears For Olympics

• http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/03/2324223&from=rss
• CNN is reporting an outbreak of Enterovirus 71 (or EV71), that has affected more than 3700 children and killed over 20, is creating concern for the visitors and athletes expected for the Beijing Olympics in August.

2008-04-29: Chinese officials accused of covering up killer virus

• http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Chinese_officials_accused_of_covering_up_killer_virus_999.html
• Local authorities in eastern China tried to cover up an outbreak of a highly contagious virus that has killed 20 children and left more than 1,500 others ill, Chinese press reports said Tuesday.
• The China Youth Daily, the official organ of the Communist Youth League, compared the situation in Anhui province to the cover-up by Chinese officials of the SARS crisis in 2003.

2002 - 2003: SARS outbreak, near pandemic

• Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
• There has been one near pandemic six years ago with 8,096 known infected cases and 774 deaths

2002 - 2003: SARS outbreak, cover-up

• First case reported in China, Nov 2002.
• Chinese government did not inform the WHO of the outbreak until February 2003.
• It restricted media coverage to preserve public confidence.
• April 2003: PRC government admitted to under-reporting the numerous cases of SARS.
• Dr. Jiang Yanyong exposed the coverup at great personal risk. He reported that there were more SARS patients in his hospital alone than were being reported in all of China.

2002 - 2003: SARS outbreak, spreading

• February 2003: an American traveling from China became afflicted with SARS while on a flight to Singapore.
• The plane stopped at Hanoi, Vietnam, where the victim died in The French Hospital of Hanoi.
• Several of the medical staff who treated him soon developed the same disease.
• Italian doctor Carlo Urbani identified the threat and communicated it to WHO and the Vietnamese government; he would later succumb from the disease.
• SARS spread to Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Ulan Bator, Manila, Singapore, Hanoi, Taiwan, and Hong Kong ...

2002 - 2003: SARS outbreak, Taiwan

• China insisted on representing the 23 million Taiwanese in the WHO
• [Yielding to China's pressure, WHO had rejected Taiwan's bid to join it for the 11th time in 2008.]
• Taiwan did not receive direct advice from WHO. Even though Taiwan government actively reported the situation to WHO, it received SARS information only through the WHO website.
• Under pressure from China, Taiwan was excluded from several major SARS conferences held by WHO. WHO eventually sent its experts to Taiwan to conduct inspections at the end of the SARS endemic; however, the PRC claimed the credit.

2008-01-23: Taiwan condemns Chinese action at WHO board meeting

• http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/01/23/2003398414
• "We strongly condemn China for disregarding the health rights of Taiwanese. We also protest against the WHO for ignoring our allies' right to speak on behalf of their draft resolution," ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) said.
• Yeh said China has never cared about the health of Taiwanese, as shown by its failure last year to inform Taiwan of a shipment of potentially toxic corn from Thailand.

2002-05-19: Even Rotary International has WHO observer status

• China blocks Taiwan's membership bids on the grounds that only sovereign nations are allowed to join the WHO
• Dr. PALMER BEASLEY: Statehood is hardly a requirement for observer status at the WHO. In fact, the Order of Malta, the Palestine Liberation Organization and even Rotary International have all been granted observer status. As a question of basic fairness, the people of Taiwan deserve a similar chair.
• Dr. PALMER BEASLEY, Dean of the University of Texas-Houston School of Public Health http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/natpa/who

2008-03-18: PREMIER Wen Jiabao says Dalai Lama is riot mastermind

• http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23396171-401,00.html
• "There is ample fact and plenty of evidence proving this incident was organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique,"
• "This has all the more revealed the consistent claims by the Dalai clique that they pursue not independence but peaceful dialogue are nothing but lies."

2008-03-18: 西藏自治區主席向巴平措：解放軍在拉薩街頭出現，是幫助「打掃路面，清潔衛生」

• 明報網站: http://www.mingpaonews.com/20080318/gha1h.htm
• 明報專訊】中國官方昨日表示，西藏拉薩騷亂中有13人死亡(較日前多3人)，並指有61名武警受傷，事件中無外國人受傷。西藏自治區政府主席向巴平措強調，解放軍並無直接參與平亂，軍人在拉薩街頭出現，是幫助「打掃路面，清潔衛生」

Conclusion

• Disease knows no country boundary; excluding Taiwan from WHO creates a huge hole of defense against it.
• Humans should not turn blind eyes to injustice
• Tolerate injustice is to corrupt minds and souls