Health club
Last week, fear of the Sars crisis spreading caused a pro-Taiwan independence organisation, the Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan, to call off a planned march by 100,000 people in Taipei.
This week, however, the Sars virus has won for Taiwan a level of international acceptance it has not seen in many years, with a team of experts from the World Health Organisation on the ground to assess the state of the outbreak on the island, the first such visit since Taiwan was forced out of the United Nations more than 30 years ago.
The central government, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, announced it had agreed to let WHO experts travel to the island to assess the worsening Sars outbreak because it was 'concerned about the health and well-being' of the people. An indignant Taiwan responded that permission from officials in Beijing was not needed. However, the reality is that the WHO is a UN agency, and the UN considers Taiwan part of China.
The mainland reportedly reversed an earlier decision to bar WHO experts from Taiwan. That was wise. Preventing health experts from visiting Taiwan would have earned the mainland international condemnation, especially since the central government has already come under heavy criticism for initially covering up the extent of the Sars outbreak. Besides, refusing to allow the WHO to visit Taiwan would make the mainland appear hypocritical and willing to sacrifice the health and welfare of its compatriots on Taiwan for political reasons.
This was especially so as the situation in Taiwan appeared to be deteriorating. To be sure, the situation on the mainland is much more serious, with more than 200 deaths and 4,400 people infected. In Taiwan, eight people have died from Sars, while the number of cases has risen to more than 100.
For the last six years, Taiwan has made a sustained effort to join the world health body. It knows there is no chance it will be accepted as a full member, and so it is applying for observer status, not as a country but as a 'health entity'. Even so, the mainland has succeeded year after year in defeating its efforts. Next month, the issue will come up again when the World Health Assembly meets.
According to Dick Thompson, a WHO spokesman, the dispatching of epidemiologists to Taiwan has nothing to do with Taiwan's bid to join the WHO. However, the presence of the experts will give Taiwan officials a rare opportunity to be in touch with the health body's representatives.
It remains to be seen whether this will help Taiwan's campaign. But it may give it a better chance to present its case that membership would give its 22.5 million people better access to health information and assistance from the WHO.
So, in a sense, there may be a silver lining behind the dark Sars cloud for Taiwan, since it strengthens its argument about the need to be included in the WHO, whose stated goal is 'the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health'.
In previous years, Taiwan complained that it was not only unable to benefit from WHO expertise, but was also barred from sharing its experience. Even after the Sars outbreak, Taiwan said it had submitted lots of information about its cases to the WHO, but the organisation had not put the information out for circulation on its bulletin.
This is because the WHO, like most of the world's countries and international organisations, does not recognise Taiwan's separate sovereignty. In 1998, when Taiwan was struck by an enterovirus epidemic, which affected tens of thousands of children, the WHO did not offer any help.
The following year, Taiwan was struck by a major earthquake. At the time, the mainland demanded that any aid for Taiwan receive prior approval from officials in Beijing. Taiwan was angered to hear that the mainland had withheld permission for two days for the International Red Cross to enter, even while people were trapped.
A Russian rescue team was reportedly delayed many hours because its aircraft had to make a lengthy detour over Siberia when the mainland refused to allow it to fly over its territory.
Taiwan argues that membership of the WHO would also benefit others. It points out, for example, that it can only offer assistance to the small handful of countries with which it has diplomatic relations. But when a disastrous quake struck Turkey in 1999, Taiwanese medical teams were unable to take part in rescue operations.
Taiwan's point, one with which it is difficult to argue, is that participation in the WHO will be a win-win situation, with Taiwan both benefiting from, and contributing to, the world health body.
