Referendum, yes

Surely, if East Timor can hold a referendum, Taiwan can too ("Let's make room for a referendum on the WHO," May 25, page 8). Beijing will oppose the idea -- as Indonesia did -- but that did not keep the UN from recognizing the will of the people of East Timor.

Invite the UN to Taiwan's referendum, as an observer or supervisor, whichever role it wants to play. If the UN rejects taking a role, then it will have plenty to explain. Can China, with its seat on the UN Security Council, trample the human rights of its own citizens and those of neighbors? Or perhaps it is that the only thing the UN respects is power and those with power can determine who deserves human rights? Or perhaps they want to deny certain people such as the Taiwanese the right to self-determination? Is the UN Charter only for those "selected" or "privileged?"

Health, security or food, the Taiwanese have the same rights as citizens of other countries to all those. China can't deny it, the UN can't deny it. The most important thing is that Taiwan-ese do not deny themselves these rights.

Chen Ming-Chung

Chicago

Beijing's behavior is beneath contempt

By Parris Chang

`Diseases see no national boundaries, and neither should medicine and public health.'

As a result of China's unreasonable obstruction, Taiwan failed to gain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) on May 19. Chinese leaders have no conscience and are inhumane. They play with politics, preventing the Taiwanese people from getting help from the World Health Organization (WHO). This in turn has caused more than 80 Taiwan-ese to lose their lives.

I made it clear to the international media in Geneva that SARS was not invented by Taiwan. The virus was produced in China and imported to this country, inflicting great damage on Taiwanese people. Illegal Chinese migrants are still entering Taiwan, posing a threat to people's health -- so the government has to fight both SARS and illegal migrants.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi told a whopping lie at the WHA May 19, saying that Taiwan did not need the WHO's help because China had been helping it. Such a brazen and ridiculous lie was like the Iraqi information minister claiming loudly that Iraq had overwhelmed the US Army.

The head of the Department of Health and Taiwanese experts should attend SARS prevention conferences held by the WHO to provide first-hand information. If Taiwan becomes a loophole in the WHO's anti-SARS network, not only its 23 million people but the whole world will be at risk. Diseases see no national boundaries, and neither should medicine and public health.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was quoted by his spokesperson at the WHA as saying that to save one life is to save humankind. If the WHO believes in this idea, it should not allow China to lead it by the nose because Tai-wan's accession into the WHO is not a political problem, but one related to health. It also involves humanitarianism and human rights.

Taiwan expects the WHO to dispatch more experts here to help contain the epidemic. But so far, the two visiting WHO professionals seem to have acted only as observers and collected information. They avoided contact with health authorities. We hope that WHO experts in the future can participate in anti-SARS efforts, rather than observing from the sidelines.

We were gratified that this time the US finally voiced its support for Taiwan's participation in the WHA and SARS prevention conferences. Japan also took the floor, but their statements were indirect and devious. If Japan had truly cared about people's health in East Asia, it should have confidently supported Taiwan's WHO bid and participation in the SARS prevention work.

Some EU member countries opposed Taiwan's participation at the WHA last year. Slight progress was seen this year as they did not express their opinions. We hope that EU countries can step forward and show their support next year.

The SARS outbreak may continue to escalate in China. Since the Chinese government continues to cover up the epidemic, the WHO, the US and other countries will find it difficult to offer their help. Taiwan is the victim and so is the rest of the world.

Therefore, we appeal to the international community: to help Taiwan's WHO bid is to help themselves because health truly transcends national boundaries.

Parris Chang is a DPP legislator.

Bush OKs Taiwan bill reluctantly

ALLY'S SUPPORT: The US president signed a bill that commits his administration to support Taiwan at the WHO, but he said he didn't appreciate being pressured

By Charles Snyder

STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

US President George W. Bush has personally voiced his country's full support for Taiwan's participation in the work of the World Health Organization (WHO), as he signed into law a bill approved unanimously by both houses of Congress pressing his administration to work on behalf of Taiwan in the organization.

But, in a statement accompanying his signature, Bush stressed that his administration views such support as consistent with Washington's "one China" policy.

He also demonstrated what appeared to be annoyance at Congress' persistence in pressing the administration on the issue.

Bush signed the bill three days before he was scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao tomorrow night on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Evian, France.

"The United States fully supports the overall goal of Taiwan's participation in the work of the World Health Organization, including observership," Bush said in signing the bill, which urges the Department of State to devise and implement a plan to gain observer status for Taiwan in the just-concluded annual World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva.

"The United States has expressed publicly its firm support for Taiwan's observer status and will continue to do so," Bush said.

Nevertheless, the president said, the administration, "as is consistent with the President's constitutional authority to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs," will construe the WHO law "to be consistent with the `one China' policy of the United States, which remains unchanged."

Bush signed the bill eight days after it was formally presented to him on May 21 and a day after this year's WHA meeting wrapped up. Congress approved the bill on May 14 after the House passed the Senate-approved version of the bill on the eve of the WHA meeting.

The law requires the secretary of state to submit to Congress 14 days after the president signs the bill a report on how it plans to secure Taiwan's participation in the WHA.

While that report has been made moot by the fact that the WHA meeting is over, Bush took the opportunity to scold Congress for pressing his administration on the issue too hard.

His administration, he said, will construe the reporting requirement "in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, the national security, the deliberative processes of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties," Bush warned.

He said, however, that the secretary of state, "as a matter of comity," will keep Congress "appropriately informed" on the issue.

Members of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, in letters to the administration over the past year, have twitted the administration for what they saw as its insufficient support for Taiwan's observer status.

Other lawmakers have also expressed disappointment over what they saw as the State Department's lukewarm actions in support of Taiwan's WHA bid last year, and over the department's official report on the issue this year.

Bush's comments on administration-congressional relations clearly was intended as a response to those criticisms.

In his comments on signing the bill, Bush made no mention of the SARS epidemic.

Journalists protest to Annan

Journalists at the UN on Thursday protested Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to bar a Taiwanese diplomat from holding a news briefing at its headquarters last week. The UN Correspondents Association, or UNCA, invited envoy Andrew Hsia (characters) to discuss the country's handling of the SARS outbreak, but he was stopped at the gate on Annan's order, after China objected. Annan told a news conference this week that Hsia's appearance would have violated the UN' "one China" policy, and that member nations, which in principle own the New York headquarters building, have the power to control access. UNCA president Tony Jenkins said international human-rights laws granting freedom of expression "trumps any privilege that any member state may wish to assert in blocking the expression of views by any person or organization invited to speak at our club." Jenkins also wrote a letter of protest to Chinese Ambassador Wang Yingfan saying the incident had done "serious harm" to China's image in the UN press corps.

Agencies