How
many people remember President Clinton's summit in China
last June? How many remember his clear betrayal when he
stated the three noes (no support for Taiwan independence,
no "One China, one Taiwan" and no support for Taiwan's participation
in international organizations) as official U.S. policy
towards Taiwan? This statement occured at a time when the
children in Taiwan were suffering from a fatal virus-- enterovirus
type 71 (which causes severe inflammation of muscles
around the brain, spinal cord and heart). Taiwan is still
suffering from this virus, which in the beginning affected
babies and small children, has now spread to teenagers and
adults. The doctors in Taiwan, however, are severely handicapped
because they can not share in the wealth of medical resources
offered by the World
Health Organization (one of the international organizations
that the Clinton administration does not support Taiwan's
participation in). The WHO does not support Taiwan's membership
either, due to resistance in China; it has rejected Taiwan's
bid for membership for the past three years. In the spring
of 1999, after this pitiable incident, the World Health
Organization again rejected Taiwan's bid to join. The enterovirus
epidemic, however, is not the sole reason why Taiwan should
join the WHO. Currently, the UNAIDS report does not have
any data of the AIDS virus in Taiwan, since it is not considered
a country. Therefore, Taiwan is pretty much non-existent
as far as global surveillance of HIV goes. However, Taiwan
is not the poor, helpless victim it appears to be. It is
a flourishing democracy, its people are well-educated, and
it is a strong country. Taiwan and the World Health Organization
could greatly benefit from each others' medical resources.
The World Health Organization, in denying Taiwan and other
countries membership, has revealed their cruel, politically-based
attitude. As Congressman Ross Brown said, the WHO "should
not be about geopolitics, it should be about helping humanity."
Good health should be available to everyone, and not limited
to a privileged people.
If you agree with all of the above, please sign the following
web-based petition.
