For Immediate Release
Washington DC – May 23, 2022
Contact: (202) 547-3686
JOINT TAIWANESE AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS RUN FULL PAGE AD IN WASHINGTON DC NEWSPAPER CALLING FOR FULL MEMBERSHIP FOR TAIWAN IN THE WHO
Ten Joint Overseas Taiwanese organizations ran a full page ad in the May 24 edition of the Washington Times titled “Knocking On The WHO’s Door” calling for Taiwan’s inclusion in the World Health Organization (WHO) as a full member.
With the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) currently taking place in Geneva the ad reads: “Taiwan tried to warn the world about the coronavirus. No one listened. If the WHO had heeded Taiwan’s warning, scores of lives around the world might have been saved.”
It continues: “When health officials in Taiwan heard about people in Wuhan, China falling sick with a mysterious pneumonia, they sent an email to the WHO on December 31, 2019 informing the WHO of its understanding of the disease and requesting more information. Taiwan immediately took action domestically assuming that human-to-human transmission was occurring. The WHO though ignored Taiwan’s early warning, and echoed Chinese officials that there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.”
It adds that “China is playing politics with the lives of the people of Taiwan, of the people of China, of the U.S. and of the rest of the world.”
And “There are no legal obstacles for Taiwan to become a full member of the WHO. There is only one political obstacle: The People’s Republic of China which has never governed Taiwan.”
It concludes: “It is time for the world to jointly stand up against China’s bullying and let Taiwan join all international organizations as a full member.”
FAPA President Minze Chien, Ph.D. reacts: “Health does not stop at the border. It knows no boundaries. The world must realize it is in the whole world’s interest to include Taiwan in the WHO. With the current COVID pandemic still devastating the world, and with a potential future spread of monkeypox a missing link in the global health system is bound to be disastrous.”
Dr. Chien adds: “Hopefully our ad will create serious indignation among members of the U.S. Congress and the administration. We believe that it behooves the US to tell Beijing that if it does not let Taiwan join the WHO and other international organizations that Taiwan seeks to join we will send US Secretary of HHS Xavier Becerra to Taiwan to get a firsthand look at Taiwan’s first rate health system. And if the Chinese continue to block Taiwan’s participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization we will send secretary Buttigieg to Taipei to study Taiwan’s high speed rail. And if they continue to block Taiwan from access to Interpol, we send Attorney General Garland to Taipei. After all, such visits are consistent with the provisions of the 2018 Taiwan Travel Act which lifted all restrictions on high-level visits from and to Taiwan – including the President!”
The following organizations signed the advertisement:
Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA)
World Federation of Taiwanese Associations (WFTA)
North American Taiwanese Medical Association (NATMA)
North American Taiwanese Professors’ Association (NATPA)
European Federation of Taiwanese Associations (EFTA)
Taiwanese Association of America (TAA-USA)
World Taiwanese Congress (WTC)
Formosan Association for Public Relations (FAPR)
World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI-USA)
North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (NATWA)
