Taiwan Deserves to Join the WHO. Admit it.
As the world is (more or less) coming together as a team to combat the COVID- 19 pandemic, some countries unfortunately find themselves marginalized. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Taiwan has been pleading loud and clear to the global healthcare community to open its doors to her. That voice has yet to be heard.
Taiwan has traditionally been excluded from key international forums, primarily because China openly rejects Taiwan’s status as a sovereign state, and pressures other countries and international organizations to refrain from recognizing her. Despite having a fully autonomous and democratic government managing some 23 million citizens, she is denied access to the United Nations, a platform hosting myriad discussions and decisions that may well affect her own interests. Almost all countries shying away from official diplomatic ties with Taiwan does not help either in an increasingly hostile, protectionist world. These detriments have become even more conspicuous in light of the pandemic we are facing, as Taiwan has also been unfairly excluded from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO is supposedly the platform for international collaboration against epidemics. In the face of extraordinary ones like COVID-19, it should be able to provide up-to-date information about the virus and its spread, hold discussions to formulate a prevention strategy, and could even deliver resources to countries at imminent risk. Nonetheless, of course, Taiwan has no access to any of this. Taiwan was always a step behind to find out about latest developments in COVID-19 treatment, vaccines, or new strains of the virus. She could not pass on information through the WHO to other countries about how she herself was faring. Amidst a raging pandemic, it is unimaginable how excluding the 23 million Taiwanese citizens falls in line with the humanitarian principles outlined in the WHO Constitution.
As if passive neglect or exclusion isn’t enough, there almost seems to be active hostility towards Taiwan. In April, out of nowhere, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused Taiwan of launching a racist campaign against him. Response from Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-Wen: “Taiwan always objects discrimination in any form. We know how it feels to be discriminated against and isolated more than anyone else as we have been excluded from global organizations for years[.]”
Taiwan is eager to do whatever it takes to claw back into the global community. The government has essentially gone door-to-door offering to donate masks, while also tirelessly stringing together meetings with foreign healthcare officials only to share Taiwan’s leading experience in combatting the pandemic with technology solutions.
On a non-governmental level, a group of young activists led an effort to crowdfund a full-paged advertisement in the the New York Times, which read, “WHO can help? Taiwan.” (Yes, that “who” was in capital letters) A website was launched in conjunction, in which the various ways #TaiwanCanHelp were detailed. The website reiterates that Taiwan is compassionate about the hardships everyone in the world is facing, and is ready and willing to contribute to the global alliance against COVID- 19.
Of course, no other country has to try so hard to “help”, just to garner even a slight glimpse of attention. It is axiomatic that every country deserves to be recognized, accepted, and respected, not because of whatever resources it has, but because every country possesses intrinsic, unquestionable value in and of itself. In a perfect world, genuine friends are not made through offering one-way favors; that is just an invitation to be taken for granted. Taiwan’s government knows this (hopefully), but when everyone deliberately turns a blind eye on that value and dignity Taiwan doubtlessly has, few options remain besides to give, give, then give some more. Taiwan’s global healthcare participation is just a tip-of-the-iceberg example of this appalling reality.
The reason for Taiwan’s unequal treatment is all but an open secret. At its heart, it is because Taiwanese people hold beliefs in their own nationality and identity that are unacceptable to her neighbor China. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, while Taiwan thinks otherwise. Most countries and international organizations dare not defy the powerful China, and thus acquiesce to or even join China’s political agenda in isolating Taiwan and stifling her presence in global affairs.
The beliefs Taiwanese people hold in their identity and nationality are paramount. They form the core of who Taiwanese people are, and bind them together in solidarity. The discrimination against Taiwan, to single her out for denying access to the WHO and other forums, forces Taiwanese people to make an impossible choice: it is either health and other human rights, or to give up those treasured beliefs, and let an authoritarian regime decide who they are for them instead. It is unjust to corner anyone into such a position.
Sure, despite being on its own, Taiwan is doing well in containing the coronavirus, at least sizably better than the WHO-led global effort. But this does not mean she doesn’t need the WHO. Taiwan still wants to, and deserves to be part of it. While it cannot be stressed enough that Taiwan is inherently worthy of such recognition, Taiwan has went ahead and proved its worth anyway. Now it is time for countries to have the audacity to meet her halfway.
Shih-wei Chao is a JSD Student at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.