Invitation from WHO reeks of politics

 

MEDICAL EXPERTS: The WHO has bypassed Taiwan's government and invited one of China's favorite lawmakers, the PFP's Kao Ming-chien, to a conference in Malaysia

 

By Melody Chen

STAFF REPORTER WITH REUTERS

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed yesterday it has invited a fifth Taiwanese medical expert to join its global SARS conference in Malaysia, although the Taiwanese government did not recommend the expert to the organization.

 

WHO spokesman Iain Simpson said that the organization invited PFP Legislator Kao Ming-chien because of his involvement in fighting the epidemic.

 

Kao, who practiced medicine for about 40 years, was not directly involved in treating SARS patients or researching the disease.

 

The other four experts recommended by the Department of Health (DOH) -- two doctors, a researcher and Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director Su Ih-jen -- have been heavily involved in battling SARS.

 

The SARS conference will take place in Malaysia's Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel, close to the nation's capital, Kuala Lumpur, on June 17 and June 18.

 

In explaining why the WHO invited Kao -- who has relatively less experience with the disease than the other experts -- was invited to the conference, Simpson said: "There are more than 1,000 people invited. Not all of them are experts on SARS."

 

Those invited are "in some way or the other" involved in SARS, he said.

 

Kao's role in convening a cross-strait videoconference on SARS between China and Taiwan became hotly debated after China's delegation used the videoconference as a political tool to block Taiwan's application to enter the WHO.

 

On May 19, Taiwan's application to enter the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's highest decision-making body, as an observer was rejected.

One of Taiwan's main appeals to join the WHA was that the nation should not be left out of the WHO's anti-SARS network.

 

China, in an effort to show that it had taken care of Taiwan's health needs, told the WHA that medical experts across the strait had communicated on the SARS issue via Kao's videoconference.

 

The WHO's offer to Kao sparked speculation that China may have played a role in the invitation. Simpson refused to comment on whether the WHO invited Kao due to pressure from Beijing.

 

Anonymous government sources cited in the Chinese-language media said Kao, though not recommended by the DOH to join the SARS conference, asked the DOH and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to subsidize his travel and accommodation fees during the conference.

 

The DOH and the ministry were cautious in deciding whether to grant Kao a subsidy for his trip because he is not a delegate appointed by the government, the sources said.

 

Kao said he did not know he had been invited to the conference until the ministry told him of the WHO's gesture.

 

Meanwhile, the WHO said yesterday it was lifting its warning against travel to parts of China over SARS, but not for Beijing or Taiwan.

 

The agency said it was dropping its advice to travelers to avoid unnecessary trips to the provinces of Hebei and Shaanxi, the region of Inner Mongolia and the city of Tianjin.

 

 

 

Yu determined on WHO referendum

 

DIRECT DEMOCRACY: The premier said that even if there is no legal basis to hold a referendum, the government might hold one next year anyway

 

CNA , TAIPEI

 

Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that if there is no legal basis for a referendum, the Executive Yuan would not rule out the possibility of holding a consultative referendum before the annual conference on the World Health Assembly (WHA) next year.

 

In an interview, Yu said a referendum is the direct exercise of civil rights, which can be found in what he claimed are the "rights of initiative and referendum stipulated in the Constitution."

 

Noting that the Executive Yuan sent a draft bill on initiative and referendum to the Legislature in April 2002, he said that it failed to clear the legislature.

 

He said that President Chen Shui-bian spoke of studying the possibility of conducting a referendum on joining the World Health Organization (WHO) and added that the Cabinet has acted on the president's words.

 

"If there is legal basis for conducting a referendum before the WHA conference next year, we will hold a referendum; if there is no legal basis, we will not rule out the possibility of holding a consultative referendum," he said.

 

Referring to a request by former DPP chairman Lin Yi-hsiung that the Executive Yuan hold a referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant along with the next year's presidential election, Yu said that a vote on the nuclear power plant is basically an essential right stipulated by the Constitution.

 

"It is in conformity with the Constitution, and is not against the law," the premier added, saying that he would not rule out holding a consultative referendum on the nuclear power plant.

 

On another matter, Yu was asked by reporter about the rumored secret deal between KMT Chairman Lien Chan and running mate PFP Chairman James Soong that would allow Soong to serve as both vice president and premier if the Lien-Soong ticket wins next year's the presidential election.

 

Yu said that his political experience has shown him that in order to ensure the nation's healthy development, the vice president should not serve concurrently as premier.

 

Yu cited an interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices on the issue to back up his views.

 

The grand justices said that although the Constitution is unclear on the issue and although the nature of the duties of the two posts are not outright incompatible, concurrent service in the absence of the president or when the president is incapacitated would affect the choice of a presidential successor or the mechanism for replacing the president stipulated in the Constitution, and would not conform with the intention of the Constitution for different people to serve as vice president and premier.

 

Turning to the government's goal of developing the economy, Yu said that he hoped that Taiwan's economic growth would reach 3 percent this year and that the government will next year implement a three-year, NT$300 billion (US$8.64 billion) plan for public projects.

 

Yu said that due to the effect of the SARS outbreak, Taiwan's projected economic growth has been adjusted downward to 2.89 percent this year.

 

Yu said, however, the economic growth would top the 3 percent mark with the implementation by the end of this year of the three special budgets, with a total value of NT$127.7 billion -- already approved by the Legislative Yuan -- for expanding domestic demand.

 

"Taiwan's economic performance was better than the world level last year, since it enjoyed an annual growth rate of 3.54 percent while that of the whole world was registered at 2.2 percent," he said.

 

In addition, Yu said, many Taiwanese businessmen operating in China have been considering investing at home after becoming aware of how the Beijing authorities conspired to cover-up the SARS epidemic there.

When asked by a reporter about his recent criticisms of the Legislative Yuan's poor performance in reviewing bills, Yu urged the opposition to face up to their responsibilities for failing in their duties by obstructing the country's development and failing to enact bills efficiently.

 

Given the fact that between them the opposition parties command a majority in the legislature, the premier said that Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng could not do anything to improve the situation. "But the opposition should give the people a chance to survive," Yu said.

 

Responding to an opposition riposte that it is in fact the premier who has failed and who should be blamed for the legislature's foot-dragging over urgent bills, Yu said he is not a person who shifts the blame onto others or he would not have quit as deputy premier July 23, 2000 to shoulder the blame for the drowning of four people in a flash flood in Pachang Creek, Chiayi County.

 

"I would be failing in my duty if I did not reveal the truth and let the public know who is undermining the country's development by filibustering in the legislature," he claimed.

 

"Only 17 out of 106 urgent bills" went through the legislative process during the just-concluded legislative session, the premier claimed. "Figures speak louder than words, and the opposition's foot-dragging has really compromised the country's development."

 

 

China's lies are poisoning humanity

 

By Paul Lin

 

By early this month, the number of SARS infections and deaths were clearly falling in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This is good news, but people are still amazed at how China dealt with the SARS epidemic.

 

At a news conference called by the press office of China's State Council on May 30, when Vice Minister of Health Gao Qiang was asked by a UPI journalist whether former minister of health Zhang Wenkang and former Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong, both removed for covering up the true extent of the SARS epidemic, would receive any punishment, his reply was, "First of all, I don't agree with this journalist that Comrade Zhang was removed because he concealed the SARS epidemic. The Chinese government has not concealed the epidemic."

 

And when a journalist from the Hong Kong paper Wenwei Po asked him what he thought of Jiang Yanyong, the doctor who revealed the cover-up of the epidemic to Time magazine, and also inquired about Jiang's situation, Gao replied, "I don't understand why everyone is so interested in Professor Jiang Yanyong. We believe that China has fended off SARS thanks to national mobilization and reliance on scientific methods, mass prevention and group control under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government. ... There are 6 million medical professionals and health workers in China. Jiang Yanyong is but one of them."

 

If Zhang, Meng and the Chinese government did not cover up the epidemic, then I don't know the reason why they were removed from their posts. Meng himself admitted that the disease was discovered in Beijing on March 1, and that it was not announced because of the ongoing National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, so it seems he was fabricating facts.

 

At the time, media around the world were praising the new Chinese leadership for being "pragmatic" and increasing transparency. They even thought it was the beginning of Chinese reforms and Hong Kong media applauded till their hands bled.

 

But it was all a misunderstanding. China had tricked the whole world, and not just the general public. Even US President George W. Bush called Chinese President Hu Jintao to declare his support, and he also heaped praise on Hu at the recent G8 summit. Bush appeared to have been duped, too.

 

But the Xinhua News Agency deleted these public statements by Gao, and Bush's praise for Hu was manipulated to sound like praise for the Chinese government. With China's official media daring to openly block and manipulate information, I can't see where the "transparency" would be coming from, or how this could be the beginning of reform.

 

To show that Jiang, respected as a hero by the public, was not being persecuted and still enjoyed his freedom, China's mouthpieces concocted an interview with him. Some people all along suspected it to be made up to placate the foreign media. As suspected, it was a fake, because, just as Gao said, there are 6 million medical workers in China, so how could the media be so interested in this particular person? This also highlights the Chinese media's lack of public credibility.

 

The reason Jiang was not allowed by Chinese authorities to travel to the US was obviously his rumor-mongering, since China never concealed the epidemic.

 

It seems Zhang and Meng's removal from their posts was an act of expediency aimed at allaying public anger, especially in other affected nations. Now that they see the epidemic receding, the CCP once again makes itself out to be infallible. Thus the Chinese delegation to the World Health Assembly did not apologize to Taiwan, to which China has brought harm. Not only that, but it also made it seem as if Taipei was indebted to Beijing.

 

The Cultural Revolution tore the country apart and impoverished the people, causing the nation to seethe with discontent. The party has since acknowl-edged its responsibility for the mistakes during the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong's mistakes during his later years and even reversed cases of "unjust persecution" that had occurred since the the party established political power.

 

But now there is a slight improvement in China's economic situation, and immediately it begins to behave as if it were rich and powerful, no longer acknowledging these mistakes but instead applying cruel pressure on the members of the 1989 student movement. The Anti-rightist Campaign, the Cultural Revolution, the Great Famine, Mao's mistakes and so on may not be studied or discussed. In short, these events have nothing to with the CCP, which has always been mighty, glorious and correct.

 

Because it acted as if it were opening up, the US signed three joint communiques with Beijing. China, however, all along looked on the US as a "enemy power," time and again using the communiques to pressure the US.

 

Little more than half a year has gone by since the eruption and spread of SARS. The fact that China wants to move on and forget the past even before the bodies of those who have died from the disease are cold should be a good lesson to the world and Taiwan. Regrettably, China's continued lies have not been attacked. It is certain to continue lying, harming the world and poisoning humanity, while we can only stand by and suffer the consequences of our own inaction.

 

Paul Lin is a political commentator based in New York.

 

 

 

 

Taiwan ally agrees to take Chinese dissident

 

DIPLOMATIC MANEUVERING: Xu Bo, a critic of China who sought asylum in Taiwan four months ago, has been allowed to make his home in the Marshall Islands

 

By Monique Chu

STAFF REPORTER

 

"We understand the Taiwanese government's difficulty in accepting him since he traveled to Taiwan with a fake document."－Xiang Lin, deputy secretary of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition

Chinese dissident Xu Bo reached the Marshall Islands yesterday after the south Pacific country agreed to grant Xu a work permit, sources said, four months after he arrived in Taiwan seeking asylum.

 

"The Marshall Islands agreed to accept Xu ... Our ally issued a work permit to Xu after a Taiwanese firm there agreed to hire him," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Richard Shih said yesterday.

 

Xu left Taiwan on Thursday and was due in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, later yesterday, Shih said.

 

Xiang Lin, deputy secretary of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, who received a call from Xu during his transit in Guam late Thursday night, said Xu was in good spirits.

 

"It's an arrangement satisfactory to all sides," Tokyo-based Xiang said in a phone interview.

 

The US, Japan, Germany, France and other European countries declined to accept Xu even though he was recognized as a refugee by the UN High Commission for Refugees, Shih said.

 

Since Taiwan is not a member of the UN, nor a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, the country has been unable to adhere to this international agreement as a legal yardstick to accept Xu as a UN-recognized refugee, Shih said.

 

The government had said that Taiwan had no asylum law, so it would be difficult to accept Xu's request.

 

After his book entitled Red Fascist angered Beijing, Xu fled China in 1999 and sought asylum in South Korea. There he was granted refugee status by UNHCR, but he was labeled "an anti-establishment activist" by South Korean intelligence services, which then sought his deportation.

 

Fearing that he would be sent back to China, Xu used a fake passport to board a plane to Thailand that stopped over in Taipei on Jan. 26.

 

The Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, led by dissident Wei Jingsheng, identified Xu as the head of the group's office in Seoul, a position he held since March last year.

 

Out of humanitarian concerns, Taiwan decided not to send Xu back to China or South Korea, Shih said.

 

"We understand the Taiwanese government's difficulty in accepting him since he traveled to Taiwan with a fake document ... We all agreed that it might be better for Xu to settle down in a third country," Xiang said.

 

Xiang came to Taipei several times to visit Xu and talked to officials handling the matter.

 

Xu was originally scheduled to leave for the Marshall Islands in early May, but Majuro asked Taipei to delay the trip because of the SARS outbreak, Shih said.

 

Several government bodies handled the case, while Chen Lien-chun, ambassador to the Marshall Islands, played a key role in securing help from Majuro, insiders said.

 

On behalf of Xu, Xiang expressed his gratitude to Taiwan's government as well as the police at CKS Airport, where Xu was detained for the past four-and-a-half months.

 

"They've done their best to handle this case," Xiang said. "The police have treated him well. Xu was free to stay at the police office to make phone calls and watch TV."

 

 

Beijing's walking corpse offensive

 

By Cheng Ching-jen

 

`By sending out infected patients, China is releasing walking biological weapons. Beijing is now poisoning Taiwan, and everyone from this country is in harm's way.'

 

According to a newspaper report on June 3, Chao Chien-ming, the son-in-law of Presi-dent Chen Shui-bian, referred to SARS as "Chinese pneumonia." This prompted PFP Legislator Yang Fu-mei and KMT Legislator Yang Li-huan to question the appropriateness of the term.

 

The answer from Department of Health Director-General Chen Chien-jen was that SARS is a legally designated communicable disease and doctors reporting such cases should use the correct name: SARS. But since Chao was not reporting any case, there was no problem of illegality.

 

Chao was not the first person to call SARS "Chinese pneumonia." DPP Legislator Trong Chai also said that it was an appropriate term. In fact, Hong Kong periodicals have also used the term before. Open magazine used "Chinese plague" as the title for a series of seven articles on SARS. People in the pan-blue parties believe the use of "China" in the name of the disease is shameful.

 

There is a historical precedent for calling contagious diseases and vectors by their place of origin. Some examples are the "Spanish flu" of 1918, Japanese encephalitis, and the German cockroach. As recently as 1997, a flu outbreak was called "Type A Hong Kong flu."

 

The Department of Health wants to use SARS as the official name of the disease.

 

In fact, SARS began to surface in November last year but the World Health Organization (WHO) coined the name much later. It was initially called "atypical pneumonia" in China.

 

But what then is "typical"? Is it caused by a bacteria or a virus? That name was an evasive name. Did we really have to use a name coined by China and avoid using "Chinese pneumonia" even before the WHO coined the name "SARS"?

 

It's been seven months since the epidemic broke out in China. Beijing has either covered up the epidemic or downplayed the situation, thereby causing harm to Taiwan and the rest of the world.

 

Foreign commentators believe China's deliberate cover-up is a case of negligence and even a criminal act. By sending out infected patients, China is releasing walking biological weapons.

 

Beijing is now poisoning Taiwan, and everyone from this country is in harm's way, whether he is pro-independence or pro-unification -- we are all "from Taiwan" in China's eyes.

 

The SARS war facing Taiwan is what China calls "a war of non-military violence." This kind of war will continue for a while under the cover of the direct links and illegal immigrants. Some people in Taiwan are trying to defend China, but they are also losing face now for doing that.

 

Cheng Ching-jen is a professor emeritus of the history department of National Taiwan University.

 

 

DOH keeps up pressure on the WHO

 

HEALTH AMBASSADORS: A crew of four professionals will be sent to a WHO meet in Kuala Lumpur to share information with other delegates on SARS control

 

STAFF WRITER WITH CNA

 

Taiwan reiterated its regret that the World Health Organization (WHO) misunderstood the country's handling of the SARS epidemic, urging it to remove Taiwan from its travel warning advisory list sooner rather than later.

 

"We have done better a job than some other countries. However, we have been asked to meet a much stricter standard," Department of Health (DOH) Director-General Chen Chien-jen said at a news conference yesterday.

 

"We are not weak. Taiwan has been `quarantined' from the WHO for 20 years and [our health-care system] has grown to become a model," he said.

 

Chen said Taiwan has furnished the WHO with more information about the country's SARS situation in the hope that the world health watchdog lift its warning against non-essential travel to the country.

 

The WHO rejected Taiwan's previous application for removal from its travel advisory list. It asked the country to check whether the six suspected SARS cases reported in the US, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Germany and Brazil between March and early June were acquired in Taiwan.

 

"We have toiled to collect sufficient data to prove that Taiwan has not exported any SARS cases," Chen said, adding that all six probable cases the WHO was investigating as coming from Taiwan tested negative for SARS.

 

Chen said Taiwan will not be daunted by the setback and will even redouble efforts to meet the WHO's relatively stringent requirements for removal from its travel advisory list, even though the nation has been kept from participation in the world health body.

 

Moreover, Chen said, Taiwan must remain on the alert against the possibility of SARS-positive individuals entering the country and starting a new line of transmission.

 

Saying that an 82-year-old veteran showed SARS-like symptoms after returning from a visit to the central Chinese province of Hunan earlier this week, Chen stressed that it is important to keep certain quarantine measures for incoming passengers.

 

He used the example to imply that the WHO may wish to consider looking into whether the disease has spread to other regions of China.