West Columbia, SC - 04/09/2021 (Micah Caskey) - Dear Editor, I normally do not opine on international affairs, but I write to highlight a dire situation most in Lexington County are unaware of. As we all know, the world has been ravaged by the COVID-19 virus. We have all been sad to see the loss of human lives, livelihoods, and our usual activities over the past year. One country that did not experience such devastation is Taiwan, due to their early knowledge of and preparedness for the pandemic. Taiwan tried to share their early warning of the virus and willingness to help combat it with the World Health Organization (“WHO”). However, the WHO has been systematically excluding Taiwan since 2017 due to intimidation by China.
Independently, Taiwan was able to successfully defeat the COVID-19 virus domestically, suffering a total of only 10 deaths. This success was accomplished without ever locking the country down, and life has remained mostly normal in Taiwan for the past year. Since then, Taiwan has tried to share the expertise and resources that led to its success with the rest of the world but has been unable to do so through the formal WHO mechanisms.
Taiwan has used its own channels to donate millions of resources and share knowledge around the world, including over 110,000 surgical masks and 20,000 N95 masks to the South Carolina when supplies were most limited.
I am saddened to see how the exclusion of Taiwan from the WHO has been harmful to the people of the world, who could have benefitted from the early warning and knowledge Taiwan tried to share with the WHO. We are lucky that Taiwan has unilaterally put its efforts into helping the world end COVID-19, but one can’t help but think how much more impact Taiwan could have had if working in conjunction with the WHO.
There are many criticisms that can rightly be leveled at the WHO, but that notwithstanding, the WHO simply should not exclude a friendly, democratic country like Taiwan because communist China wants to play politics. I hope others will join me in staunchly supporting Taiwan’s immediate involvement in the WHO, so we may all reap the benefits of a stronger world health system.
Sincerely,
s/Micah Caskey
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