On 2 February, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to recognise the reality that Taiwan is Taiwan and stop violating the health rights of the country’s 23 million people. Minister Wu made the remarks during a special news conference addressing the global outbreak of the new coronavirus. The minister pointed out that Taiwan is not under China’s jurisdiction, adding that Taiwan’s and China’s health are administered by separate and independent health authorities; and Taiwan’s and China’s flight information regions are administered by separate and independent civil aviation administrations. “This is such a simple reality that the WHO should never have missed it,” Minister Wu stated.
The Foreign Minister stressed the WHO’s decision to include Taiwan as part of China in its international health emergency report created “real problems” for Taiwan, such as Italy banning flights from Taiwan on 31 Jan. Minister Wu stressed the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Taiwan is not higher than in most countries affected. “No other country aside from China has had its flights banned, and the MOFA is working through all diplomatic channels to resolve the issue with Italy,” he added. The minister said the WHO’s mistreatment of Taiwan keeps the country out of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the governing body of the WHO, and excludes government officials from participating in related activities, mechanisms and meetings. “If the motto of the WHO is ‘health for all and leave no one behind’, the Taiwanese people are certainly not treated that way,” he added. Minister Wu also praised the staunch support for Taiwan’s meaningful WHO participation by like-minded partners such as Canada, Japan, the EU and US.“Their strong voice should not be ignored.”