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