Thread by @HillelNeuer

1/ SHAME: Asked by @yvonne_tg @thepulse_rthk about #Taiwan's participation in the U.N.'s World Health Organization, its official Bruce Aylward says "I can't...could't hear"; then hangs up; and then when called back & asked again, he quickly shuts down the interview. #Covid_19

2/ Bowing to political pressure by China, the WHO excludes Taiwan from the world health summit & dozens of WHO technical expert meetings, creating loopholes in global health security networks that could quicken the spread of pandemics in Asia and beyond.

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…

3/ The World Health Organization failed to communicate Taiwan's warning in December of possible human-to-human transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus, the Financial Times reported.

news.yahoo.com/taiwan-accuses…

4/ Doctors in Taiwan had learned from their colleagues in mainland China that medical staff were falling ill from the coronavirus, a sign of human-to-human transmission that Taiwan passed on to the WHO on December 31, information that the WHO did not communicate to other nations.

5/ China uses its growing power at the U.N. to prevent the WHO & other agencies from recognizing Taiwan as a member in its own right. “While the WHO provides a platform for all countries to share information on the epidemic and their response..."

6/ "...none of the information shared by our country’s Centers for Disease Control is being put up there,” said Taiwan’s vice president Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist who was Taiwan’s health minister during the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak.

7/ Ten million passengers fly between Taiwan & China every year. Taiwan has an acute interest in protecting its own & the world’s welfare from this latest health threat. Yet Taiwan was excluded from the WHO emergency meetings on the new coronavirus crisis.
foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/28/tai…

8/ Data & other references released by the WHO deliberately list coronavirus cases reported by Taiwanese authorities as under "China," thereby denying travelers around the world accurate and timely information about the situation.

9/ Despite confirming only 34 coronavirus cases as of Feb. 28, Taiwan was thus listed as “very high risk” by WHO—because the organization would not do the obvious thing and give its information separately from China’s.

10/ Under its founding charter, the WHO declares that the "highest attainable standard of health" is one of the
"fundamental rights of every human being without distinction" — yet 23 million people in Taiwan are denied equal access to the world health organization. #Covid_19

11/ Beyond the issue of Taiwan, Le Monde had reported on Jan. 29th on how China and its allies successfully lobbied the WHO and its chief Dr. Tedros to ignore the experts & refrain from declaring a #Covid_19 global emergency at the meetings of Jan. 22-23.
lemonde.fr/planete/articl…