By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 24th April 2020) — Regarding the issue of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has made its independent mark on the global scale in tackling the disease early on. Taiwan, however, is not a member of the World Health Organization (WHO), which continues to be a widely debated topic.
Resident Taiwanese Ambassador Tom Lee spoke exclusively to The Labour Spokesman about his country’s success and the challenges surrounding WHO membership.
On Taiwan’s COVID-19 response, Ambassador Lee said: “Taiwan’s success in combating COVID-19 is a combination of efforts by medical professionals, government, private sector and society at large. On the very last day of 2019, authorities in Taiwan began assessing passengers arriving on direct flights from Wuhan, checking for symptoms of fever and pneumonia.” The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) was activated on January 20, directly coordinating efforts across ministries and agencies.
On assistance to St. Kitts-Nevis specifically, the Ambassador confirmed: “In addition to the 40,000 masks donated on April 15, 6 thermal detectors (thermal imaging cameras) and a batch of thermometer temperature guns are on the way from Taiwan and will arrive in SKN shortly. Our Embassy has also assisted the Ministry of Health to have Taiwanese experts review SKN’s official COVID-19 Preparation Plans to provide constructive feedback.”
On the WHO question, Ambassador Lee stated: “The right to health is a fundamental part of our human rights. If it is indeed WHO’s mission to ensure the highest attainable standard of health for every human being, then WHO needs Taiwan just as Taiwan needs WHO.” Despite WHO statements that Taiwan had been fully engaged on COVID-19, Taiwan’s participation remains extremely limited, with 70 percent of its applications to WHO technical meetings rejected between 2009 and 2019.