Taiwan, unlike communist China, has been forthright about the infections that have arisen within its borders and eager to notify the international community, as well as to receive assistance. For a period in early April, the WHO was actually refusing to accept SARS numbers from the democratic island nation. The communists insisted that Taiwan could submit numbers to their regime, which would pass them on to the WHO–more than a bit cheeky, coming from the very regime whose secrecy is largely to blame for the virus’s spread. When the WHO finally relented and accepted Taiwan’s numbers–and sent two doctors to the scene–it did so under the designation, “Taiwan, province of China.” … When Taiwan was admitted to the World Trade Organization, it came in, after much wrangling, as the “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu.” Too many countries are ready to kowtow to Beijing’s strong-arming when it comes to any move that might confer international legitimacy on Taiwan’s morally legitimate claim to sovereignty…. The nations that have opposed Taiwan are taking sides against a free nation facing down a tyranny. [New York Sun, 5/9/03]
The WHO is a UN agency.