Shut out of WHO, Taiwan faces flight bans, update delays in virus crisis (updated)

EVA Airways

03/02/2020 07:47

* Taiwan asks WHO to stop listing its virus cases under
China
    * Taiwan not a WHO member due to China's objections
    * Taiwan seeking to get Italy to resume Taipei flights
    * China says Taiwan has no problems getting info from WHO

 (Adds Chinese Foreign Ministry comment; paragraphs 16-17)
    By Ben Blanchard
    TAIPEI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Shut out of the World Health
Organization, Taiwan faces a dual problem in battling the threat
of a new coronavirus: it is being included as a high-risk area
as part of China but is unable to get epidemic information
firsthand.
    Taiwan is denied membership of most international bodies
including the WHO, a U.N. agency, due to the objections of
China, which considers it a Chinese province with no right to
participate unless it accepts it is part of China, something
Taiwan's government will not do.
    Taiwan has long complained about China's belittling of it on
the international stage and its forcing of foreign governments
and companies to refer to it as part of China. 
    Now, with the virus biting, Taiwan says this policy means it
has become collateral damage, as, despite having only 10 cases
compared with more than 17,000 in China, where the virus emerged
in December, the WHO is lumping it together with China.
    The consequences surfaced on the weekend when Taiwan said
its largest airline, China Airlines  2610.TW , had been included
in an Italian ban on flights from China because the WHO lists
Taiwan under China as part of a high-risk virus area.
    Bob Chen, the head of the Taiwan foreign ministry's
Department of International Organisations, said it had
complained repeatedly to the WHO to stop listing Taiwan as part
of China.
    "But to date, the WHO's secretariat's attitude has been very
hard-line," he said on Sunday. "It's very obvious that under
China's pressure they can't show flexibility."
    However, the WHO, while still listing Taiwan as part of
China, now refers to it as "Taipei", rather than "Taiwan, China"
as it did in initial situation reports, Chen said.
    "It's a small change, but from our perspective it's still
far from enough. The biggest problem is they are still putting
us under China."
    In a rare diplomatic success, Taiwan managed on Saturday to
get Vietnam to lift its ban on flights to the island, which it
had also initially listed under China.
    China Airlines says its Rome flights remain suspended as
Taiwan pressed Italy for them to be resumed.
    Taiwan's other main airline, Eva Airways  2618.TW , which is
due to start flights to Milan this month, said it had no
information whether they would go ahead.
    Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Taiwan's diplomats were
working to ensure more countries do not stop flights from
Taiwan.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2A202P
    The WHO's office in Beijing and Italy's foreign ministry did
not immediately respond to requests for comment.
    
    'LIMITED' INFORMATION
    China has denied seeking to make life difficult for Taiwan,
saying it can get information from the WHO in a timely way.
    "Taiwan compatriots are our own flesh and blood, and if they
encounter difficulties overseas, we are willing to provide
strong support," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said
on Monday, responding to a question on Italy's flight ban.
    But the WHO is for sovereign states and Taiwan can only take
part under the "one China" principle, she added.
    Procedures need to be changed as existing WHO channels
provide only limited information, said Wang Liang-yu, Taiwan's
de facto ambassador in Geneva, where the WHO is based. 
    "The WHO should not hint that bilateral channels are enough
to replace international cooperation," she told Reuters.
    The WHO says it is collaborating closely with Taiwan through
a 2005 legal instrument on health reporting requirements, the
International Health Regulations (IHR).  
    Taiwan officials had been invited to WHO technical meetings
last year, said spokesman Tarik Jasarevic.
    "WHO works with Taiwanese health officials, following
established procedures, to facilitate fast and effective
response, including through the IHR," he added. 
    Taiwan can get coronavirus information but has to wait for
it to show up on WHO websites, said Chuang Jen-hsiang, deputy
head of its Centres for Disease Control. 
    "There is a time gap, but we can see it," he said.

 (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee,
and Se Young Lee and Gabriel Crossley in Beijing, Emma Farge in
Geneva and Gavin Jones in Rome;
Editing by Robert Birsel and Clarence Fernandez)
 ((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com;))