An unnamed World Health Organization (W.H.O.) spokesperson insisted in remarks published on Thursday that the agency is not seeking to change its current, meager relationship with Taiwan after a senior Japanese government official claimed this week that W.H.O. chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus promised more cooperation with Taipei.
Japanese Minister of Finance Katayama Satsuki met with Tedros during a visit to Japan for the W.H.O. director-general this week and published photos alongside him and other public health leaders and representatives of the World Bank. In remarks shared on the social media site Twitter, Katayama stated, among other policy claims, that Tedros had “explicitly state[d] strengthening relations with Taiwan!”
The social media post did not elaborate on that statement but implied that the United Nations health body itself were the ones seeking closer relations to the government of the Republic of China.
Katayama’s comment surfaced at a turbulent time for Chinese-Japanese relations. Conservative Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae made statements in November claiming that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be a “situation threatening Japan’s survival,” unprecedented words that implied Japan would be constitutionally permitted to use its self-defense forces to defend Taiwan. The Communist Party of China has responded with outrage and belligerent threats against both Japan and Taiwan, as well as the harassment of Japanese celebrities in the country.
Taiwan, or the Republic of China, is a sovereign and democratic state with informal friendly ties to Japan, the United States, and other free societies. Contrary to the reality on the ground, the Chinese government claims Taiwan is a “province” of China that rightfully belongs under communist rule. The Chinese Communist Party refuses to maintain diplomatic relations with any government that recognizes the legitimacy of the Taiwanese federal government and browbeats international platforms, such as the United Nations, to ensure Taiwan is not allowed to participate in its forums. As a result, Taiwan is not an official member of the W.H.O. and cannot participate in the World Health Assembly, its annual plenary meeting. China reportedly demanded the expulsion of Taiwan from the meeting in 2017 following the election of anti-communist former President Tsai Ing-wen.
Responding to questions about the Japanese finance minister’s claim that Tedros was seeking to defy Beijing by strengthening cooperation with Taiwan, an unnamed W.H.O. representative told the South China Morning Post in remarks published on Thursday that the agency had no plans to change the current relationship with Taiwan.
“Our position hasn’t changed. Our position is that we have existing relations with Taiwanese health partners,” the representative was quoted as saying. “We’re a health agency, and we work with health counterparts, and that will continue.”
The Taipei Times, a Taiwanese newspaper, separately reported on Saturday (local time) that the W.H.O., through an unspecified representative, dismissed Katayama’s tweet as an “apparent misinterpretation” and that Tedros had spoke to Katayama through an interpreter.
“At no time did Dr. Tedros mention any change in this arrangement [with Taiwan],” the representative reportedly told the Taipei Times.
The W.H.O.’s refusal to work with Taiwan, at China’s behest, proved catastrophic in late 2019 when the Taiwanese government attempted to warn the U.N. agency that it had documented evidence of the spread of a novel respiratory infection in the Chinese city of Wuhan — a pathogen later identified as the Wuhan coronavirus and found responsible for upwards of 7 million deaths around the world. In March 2020, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the United States confirmed to Breitbart News that Taiwanese officials attempted to contact the W.H.O. about the disease in late 2019.
“Taiwan did report our concern on the severity of coronavirus last December to the WHO,” TECRO said in a statement. “But as a rule, our reporting is always a one-way street. W.H.O. mostly ignored our messages and never shared information as they do to other countries.”
Tedros, the leader of the W.H.O., attracted global condemnation for his handling of the Wuhan coronavirus, particularly due to his close relationship to China. Those friendly relations appeared to deteriorate somewhat in 2022 when Tedros began suggesting that countries using strict house arrest and lockdown protocols no longer needed to do so.
“As we all know the virus is evolving, changing its behaviors, becoming more transmissible, and with that changing behavior, changing your measures will be very important,” Tedros said in May 2022. “When we talk about the zero COVID strategy, we don’t think that it is sustainable considering the behavior of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future, and especially when we have now a good knowledge, understanding of the virus.”
The Chinese government, which imposed some of the world’s most repressive lockdown policies, condemned Tedros as “irresponsible.”
The Chinese Communist Party has not commented on the situation with the W.H.O. at press time. During its regular press briefing on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued an impassioned condemnation of Taiwanese authorities for seeking friendly ties with Japan — and of Japan for “innumerable crimes” during the imperial period.
As we mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War [World War II], the Japanese leader once again cited a ‘survival-threatening situation’ regarding the Taiwan question,” spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters, referring to Takaichi’s comments. “It amounts to a challenge to human conscience and international justice, and has undoubtedly met with strong outrage from the Chinese people and the international community.”
“What awaits the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists who have betrayed their ancestors is contempt from the people and the judgement of history,” he concluded.
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