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> The majority of WHO controversies are made up, the WHO are not a political entity so they do not want to comment at all on political issues; and whatever you
by gnusty_gnurc 7y ago
> The majority of WHO controversies are made up, the WHO are not a political entity so they do not want to comment at all on political issues; and whatever you want to say about Taiwan it is a very heated political situation.
They make overt political statements all the time. For one: calling Taiwan racist when it took issue with the WHO’s inaction after their attempts to disseminate health information.
Then Tedros calling travel bans “stigmatic.” Precisely when travel bans were needed at the onset of the spreading.
If WHO is supposed to be apolitical, it shouldn’t be parroting Chinese talking points.
- dijit 7y agoPlease don't twist the situation. The Head of the WHO was attacked by racist trolls who were outwardly Taiwanese; for excluding Taiwan from membership (like _all_ U.N. projects do), And he commented about the abuse. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/taiwan-who-tedros-racism-china.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/taiwan-who-tedro...
- jdminhbg 7y agoHe "commented about the abuse" in order to deflect from a question about why the WHO didn't take Taiwan's warnings seriously.
- dijit 7y agoI think you're missing the point. Taiwan does not exist as an entity to the WHO because it is not recognised by the United Nations. As much as Taiwan has valuable lessons it's basically akin to asking why the WHO isn't listening to the municipality of sealand. The journalist asking that question in the first place knew that Taiwan is a political hotbed and was looking for a story, they got one and the WHO is under the bus- at a time when we need a united front in healthcare globally. And the racist abuse was entirely real: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/taiwan-rejects-who-chiefs-claim-of-campaign-against-him-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/2020/04/09/ab1c8e8a-7a0e-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/taiwan-rej...
- jdminhbg 7y agoIf you think that's an acceptable answer, then Tedros could have given it as an answer instead of an irrelevant diatribe about mean people online. Public health is, like aviation for example, one of those things where recognition of "legitimate" governments has to take a back seat to de facto reality. If the WHO is unable to deal with Taiwan, then we need a different organization that can.
- dijit 7y agoReality doesn't work this way. The only way to have real collaboration on a global level is to take no sides of any kind and only agree with absolute consensus. Anything else is picking a side and alienates part of the world. I'm sorry that the WHO isn't playing into the politics you or I like, in this case it almost certainly would have saved lives, but that's kind of the point. As soon as they "wake up to the reality" of something such as, idk, Crimea being Russian territory? then suddenly they're alienating Ukraine and its allies. It's stupid, and fickle, but the only winning move is not to play.
- jdminhbg 7y agoThey clearly took a side, I don’t know how you can look at it any other way. In your counter factual with Russia, of course they should recognize the de facto situation and send aid if something terrible happens there, regardless of how mad that makes Ukraine. It doesn’t really matter whether my politics were assuaged, though, because they pissed off the majority of their funding and had it cut off. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
- factsaresacred 7y agoThat article provides zero evidence of "racist trolls who were outwardly Taiwanese". It's a fiction. What is not a fiction in Mainland China evicting Africans and blocking them from Shopping malls after the government accused them of being diseased. Where is Tedros' comments against China amid this actual documented racism? The WHO have handled this horribly at just about every stage and deserve every bit of criticism sent their way.
- remarkEon 7y agoDo you think it was "racist trolls" in Taiwan who made him make those factually wrong statements? Or is it more likely that the financial relationship with the WHO maintained by China influenced what they were saying? Which one is more likely?
- philliphaydon 7y agoYeah so if he thinks Taiwan is part of china why doesn’t he blame china? They are being pretty racist towards Africans right now. The head of WHO is corrupt.