NRO: Is the World Health Organization Putting the World’s Health First? - Marco Rubio

[TomSea]

Is the World Health Organization Putting the World’s Health First? | National Review
Marco Rubio

While its rank-and-file do essential work, its leadership shamefully appeases Beijing — and spurns Taiwan.

We are in the midst of a deadly coronavirus pandemic that has put millions of lives at stake, and yet there is grave cause for concern over the independence of the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO). To be clear: There is no concern over the frontline health-care workers, scientists, and experts who do heroic work, often at great risk to themselves. They embody the WHO’s stated values of “put[ting] people’s health interests first.”

No, the concern stems from WHO’s current leadership, who have regularly demonstrated their servility to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The latest example comes in the form of a now-viral video interview, in which a WHO senior adviser abruptly ends the interview when asked about Taiwan. Dodging questions about Taiwan to please Beijing isn’t fatal, but it is indicative of a systemic problem within WHO leadership: a subservience to Beijing that comes at the expense of its stated commitment to public health.

Read more at: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-china-world-health-organization-chinese-communist-party/

[PeteS in CA]

Where the rest of the world, for a time or for the entire delay, went with what WHO was saying, Taiwan was the only country I know that on December 31 assumed (without direct evidence and contrary to assurances) human-human transmission had happened and started screening, on plane, passengers arriving from Wuhan.

However the decision came to be made, the US did not act contrary to WHO assurances until January 17, still before WHO started admitting the truth. IMO, had Trump done this a month earlier that would have generated new howls for him to be impeached.

Shutting down travel to/from China effective February 2 was also done contrary to WHO's advice.

[DB]

Where the rest of the world, for a time or for the entire delay, went with what WHO was saying, Taiwan was the only country I know that on December 31 assumed (without direct evidence and contrary to assurances) human-human transmission had happened and started screening, on plane, passengers arriving from Wuhan.

However the decision came to be made, the US did not act contrary to WHO assurances until January 17, still before WHO started admitting the truth. IMO, had Trump done this a month earlier that would have generated new howls for him to be impeached.

Shutting down travel to/from China effective February 2 was also done contrary to WHO's advice.

I'm sure Taiwan pays a lot of attention to what goes on in mainland China. They have past experience with China lying to them on multiple fronts. They have people on the ground and knew something was up early on and acted on it.

[PeteS in CA]

I'm sure Taiwan pays a lot of attention to what goes on in mainland China. They have past experience with China lying to them on multiple fronts. They have people on the ground and knew something was up early on and acted on it.

We'll probably never know, but that is very probable, IMO. For all the tension nation vs. nation, many Taiwanese companies have manufacturing facilities in China, and therefore Taiwanese business people are coming and going to the mainland pretty often. They see what's around them, and they interact with factory workers.