Politicizing SARS

Politicizing SARS

The letter by Derek Hsu of the Taipei Economic and Trade
Office published in The Jakarta Post on April 29 tried hard to
confuse public opinion by distorting the facts. I think it is
necessary to further elaborate on some points.

The battle against SARS has come to a critical point. The
governments, people, health care workers and scientists of
countries and regions are making a concerted effort, running
against time, to combat the SARS virus. They are going all out to
alleviate and control the spread of the virus, and to develop a
treatment and a vaccine in order to win this war as soon as
possible.

However, it is regrettable that in the meantime some
inharmonious voices are heard and actions seen. Instead of
concentrating on the fight against SARS, some people are making
use of SARS for political purposes, and sparing no effort to
attack and accuse others. They have even not hesitated to
fabricate facts in an attempt to advocate Taiwan's entry into the
World Health Organization (WHO).

Since 1997, the WHO has rejected the motion of Taiwan's entry
for six executive years. As a province and a region of China,
Taiwan is not a sovereign state and is completely different from
the Palestine Authority and the International Red Cross, which
are observers at WHO.

There is a Chinese saying that nothing should be repeated more
than three times. Having been frustrated for six consecutive
years, the Taiwan authorities are stirring up trouble again by
attempting to make its way into the WHO and challenging the one-
China principle, even at this critical times when the world is
confronted with the threat of SARS.

Hsu denied and denounced the medical exchanges across the
Taiwan Straits, as well as mainland China's concern about the
health of their Taiwan compatriots and the SARS cases in Taiwan.
In fact, the communication and the exchanges concerning SARS
across the Straits have been going ongoing. The mainland has
provided Taiwan with its expertise and experience in the
prevention and treatment of SARS in various forms.

No matter whether Hsu acknowledges it or not, the experts feel
that their exchanges have been pragmatic and unimpeded. They have
learned much from each other.

MA JISHENG, Counselor for Political Affairs, Chinese Embassy,

Jakarta

Note: With this letter we close the debate on the China-Taiwan
SARS issue.
--Editor