Regime Watch: Beijing

From the May 10 Arab News (an English language daily newspaper in Saudi Arabia)

In May 2005, the World Health Assembly (WHA) — the governing body of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) — enacted a thoroughly revised set of International Health Regulations (IHR). This marked a significant milestone in the history of cooperative efforts of governments to counter the increasing risk of cross-border spread of infectious diseases. Not the least reason for this appraisal is the addition to the IHR (2005) of Paragraph 3, Article 3, which reads as follows:

“The implementation of these Regulations shall be guided by the goal of their universal application for the protection of all people of the world from the international spread of disease.”

The insertion of this “universal application clause” was motivated by the resolve of WHO member states to remove political barriers to comprehensive implementation of the regulations. It was aimed at empowering the WHO to communicate and cooperate with “all people of the world” regardless of whether they are citizens of member states.

The Taiwanese people welcomed this amendment to the IHR and looked forward to close cooperation with the WHO in IHR-related affairs. However, the WHO Secretariat has continued to spurn Taiwan’s participation in cooperative efforts to implement the regulations, leaving a dangerous vacuum in the disease prevention network.

Note that the “universal application clause” is supposed to allow participation by citizens of non-member states, so why is it that the WHO is spurning Taiwan? The answer is the same reason that the U.S. opposes Tawian’s efforts at United Nations membership…to appease Beijing. As the Arab News continues:

On the eve of the WHA’s enactment of the IHR (2005), the WHO Secretariat signed a secret memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China wherein, reportedly, it promised that the WHO would not communicate with Taiwan’s health authorities on any matter, or invite them to take part in any WHO activity, without China’s consent.

So it is Beijing’s thuggery at work behind the scenes, with the aid of its toadies in the WHO Secretariat. Here’s where it gets interesting:

Politically, Taiwan and China are separate entities that do not exercise jurisdiction over each other’s territories, although they share confusingly similar official names — the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China, respectively. China, therefore, cannot legitimately represent Taiwan’s people in the international community.

Wow, an Arab newspaper from the dictatorial Saudi Kingdom publishes an article saying essentially (and correctly) that China’s claim of sovereignty over democratic Taiwan lacks legitimacy. In the meantime, the United States of America still clings to an archaic “one China” policy that explicitly recognizes China’s legitimacy to represent Taiwan’s people in the international community.

Shouldn’t that be the other way around?