Wall Street Journal; June 2, 2003

"China Places Politics Above Human Suffering"

As a Taiwanese American I share the frustration you expressed in your May 21 editorial "Who's afraid of Taiwan?" For the seventh time in as many years Taiwan failed to get a foot in the door of the World Health Organization during the organization's annual meeting in Geneva recently.  During the plenary session, U.S. Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson called for Taiwan's inclusion, but China managed to keep the 23 million people of Taiwan effectively out, thus putting politics above human suffering.

To add insult to injury, and despite requests by Taiwan's diplomatic allies, the head of Taiwan's Department of Health was not allowed to even brief WHO members on Taiwan's experience with SARS.  Never mind that over the past few weeks Taiwan has reported a total of 344 SARS infections, with 40 fatalities.

Beijing now accuses Taiwan of "politicizing" SARS.  It is obvious that China's blocking of Taiwan out of the organization is purely political and has nothing to do with health.  It is ironic that WHO itself now places the health of an entire nation in jeopardy; it should focus on the health needs of Taiwan's people instead of on China's narrow-minded politics.

Ming-chi Wu, Ph.d.                                                                           President                                                                                          Formosan Association for Public Affairs                                            Washington