Taiwan should and must join WHO

If the goal of WHO is to improve the human's health, then it should absolutely accept Taiwan as a member. Taiwan's contribution to the world's public health is undoubtedly much more than China's. Politics should not rule over the issue of safty and health of all people in the world. Let Taiwan participate. The world will be healthier.

Viruses without passports

Tuesday, May 9, 2006, The Seattle Times

Taiwan should be admitted as an observer to the World Health Organization over the objections of China. Some other issue might be a matter of concern only to the Chinese, but infectious epidemics are of concern to everyone. Viruses carry no passports.

We would have thought China learned that in 2003 with the outbreak of SARS. In the middle of that epidemic, which killed more than 750 people worldwide, China delayed the visit of medical experts to Taiwan for more than a week. It could do that because Taiwan is considered by the WHO as a province of China under the administration of Beijing. A look at the WHO's Web page, at www.who.int, shows that this fiction is still enshrined. That is not acceptable in a world that may face an epidemic of avian flu.

This Saturday, May 13, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which is really Taiwan's consulate here, is sponsoring a run around Green Lake to support Taiwan's participation in the WHO.

The run is at 3 p.m. and starts at the Green Lake Community Center at the lake's easternmost point. The public is invited.