Taiwan condemns ‘groundless’ accusations that it attacked WHO chief

Taiwan's lack of membership of the WHO, due to pressure from China which claims the island as its own, has infuriated the Taipei government during the coronavirus outbreak, which says it has been unable to get timely information and that Taiwanese lives have become political pawns.

April 09, 2020 07:18 am | Updated 07:47 am IST - TAIPEI:

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Geneva, Switzerland February 6, 2020.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Geneva, Switzerland February 6, 2020.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned “groundless” accusations from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) that racist slurs against him had come from the island, as Taipei escalated its feud with the body.

Taiwan's lack of membership of the WHO, due to pressure from China which claims the island as its own, has infuriated the Taipei government during the coronavirus outbreak, which says it has been unable to get timely information and that Taiwanese lives have become political pawns. The WHO denies the criticisms.

On Wednesday, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus rejected “racist slurs” against him, which he said had originated in Taiwan.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemned and protested the groundless accusations” which it labelled “imaginary”.

“We are a mature and highly-accomplished advanced democratic country, and have absolutely not instigated our people to personally attack the WHO's Director General, and have absolutely not made any racist comments,” it said.

Taiwan condemns any form of discrimination, and any attacks on the internet against the WHO's boss have nothing to do with Taiwan's Foreign Ministry nor have been instigated by it, the ministry added.

Tedros' comments were irresponsible and he should clarify them and apologise to Taiwan, it said.

Taiwan has been proud of its early and so far effective measures against the coronavirus, logging just 379 cases and five deaths to date, far lower than many of its neighbours, even as it has been excluded from the WHO.

The WHO, in a rare statement about Taiwan last month, said it was closely following the development of the coronavirus there, is learning lessons from how they are fighting it, and detailing how the WHO has been working with Taiwanese health experts.

Taiwan says the WHO ignored its questions at the start of the coronavirus outbreak and has not shared with member states information Taiwan has provided on the coronavirus including details on its cases and prevention methods.

This is part of what it has long described as a pattern that puts it at risk because of Chinese pressure to exclude it from international bodies.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.