WHO deserts justice: Chinese virus inflicts global devastation

The global community today needs to be aware of “China’s globalization,” whether China is pursuing the path of embracing the global ideals of democracy or the notion that China spreading its virus around the world and implementing elements of totalitarianism into the United Nations (UN) and WHO.

In its 60th session, the World Health Assembly approved a motion by a vote of 148-17 with two abstentions to strike discussion of Taiwan's membership bid off the agenda of the annual meeting of the world health regulatory body. This is the 11th time in which Taiwan has failed in its bid to join the WHA.

The Chinese head delegate to the World Health Organization (WHO) and also the Health Minister Gao Qiang proved to be self-contradictory and inconsistent, when he spoke about Beijing taking into consideration the health rights of the Taiwan people and when Beijing continues to oppose Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, forsaking the health interests of the people in Taiwan.

In 2003, Gao Qiang was one of the key government officials who concealed the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), triggering a global panic. However, the U.S. and Japan, who value human rights, regrettably made comprise with China. Certainly, such act will have irreversible consequence.

Recently, the New York Times on February 20, 2007, reported that over half of the medicines circulating in Southeast Asia were fake; most of them were produced in China. Furthermore, incidences of pets died in the U.S. after consuming pet food made in China. However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied such allegations and claimed that melamine, which was mixed into pet food, has no direct correlation with the deaths of these pets.

Similarly, on May 6th, the New York Times pointed out that three out of four recent important piece of news were about Chinese producing fake or bad drugs and food products. Likewise, in Panama, the 260,000 cold medicines contained diethylene glycol has caused individuals who have intake such medicines to become critically ill and in some cases even resulted in death. Since last October, at least 395 people in Panama have passed away, and 100 of them have been confirmed that diethylene glycol was the primary cause. It is because the Chinese pharmaceutical companies printed the markings on the package with the name glycerin instead of the poisonous diethylene glycol, causing these tragic incidents.

This is not the first malpractices conducted by China. Ten years ago in Haiti, at least 88 children died due to poisonous medicines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration agents uncovered that the sources were from a Chinese factory in Dalian. At that time, the Chinese officials barred the U.S. agents from pursuing further examination. It was only one year later, when the factory had relocated and the related materials were destroyed were the U.S. agents permitted to visit there.

The Chinese government has low regards of human lives, and Beijing prevents other countries from intervening in these affairs. Aside from news articles and individuals written reports criticizing the Chinese government, any effort seems to be futile. China continues to export fake and bad medicines to every corner of the world, and to a great degree the international community can no longer tolerate this.

However, the WHO is merely busy promoting the “one China” issue, while utilizing an unreasonable means in rejecting Taiwan’s application and even striping Taiwanese media’s right to conduct interview at the WHA. The WHO is indifferent to Chinese poisonous drugs being distributed around the world; such attitude is not compatible with the founding spirits of the organization.

The current WHO secretary general and the former Hong Kong’s Minister of Health, Margaret Chan, is able to attain such position, due to China employing money diplomacy in purchasing the necessary votes. It is not surprising to see her following the footsteps of the communist leaders by taking a cold attitude towards Taiwan. She too was the prime suspect that caused Hong Kong to suffer greatly from SARS, when she disclosed SARS information to the public. Ironically, during her inauguration last November, she proclaimed to be an international public servant, and persevered to construct a harmonious and healthy global society. If so, she should be responsible in dealing with China’s recent misconducts. Should she fail to do so, the souls of the victims who fell to Chinese malpractices will not rest in peace!