On March 28, Bruce Aylward, an Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) took a video conference interview with Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). He gave some bizarre responses when reporter Yvonne Tong asked him about Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has declared that Taiwan is part of itself and with its influence, locked Taiwan out of the WHO and other international organizations. (Epoch Times)
Tong: “Will the WHO consider Taiwan’s membership?”
Aylward: No response.
Tong: “Hello?”
Aylward: “I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear your question. Yvonne.”
Tong: “Okay, let me repeat the question.”
Aylward: “No, that’s okay. Let’s move to another one then.”
Tong: “I’m actually curious in talking about Taiwan as well. On Taiwan’s case.”
Video conference was disconnected.
Tong called Aylward again.
Tong: “I just want to see if you can comment a bit on how Taiwan has done so far in terms of containing the virus.”
Aylward: “Well, we’ve already talked about China, and, you know, when you look across all the different areas of China, they’ve actually all done quite a good job. So with that, I’d like to thank you very much for inviting us to participate…”
Interview can be seen online: https://twitter.com/HKWORLDCITY/status/1243865641448169474
The WHO made a statement later that day, saying that the question of Taiwanese membership was not for its staff to answer, but instead “up to WHO member states.” (Radio France International)
U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo told the media on March 30, that the State Department will try its best to help Taiwan to obtain an appropriate role in the WHO. President Trump signed the TAIPEI ACT on March 26, which called for the U.S. to use its influence and other vehicles to support Taiwan to become a non-sovereignty-state member of international organizations and obtain observer status in other appropriate organizations. (Radio France International)
On April 2, Edward Yau, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, accused RTHK of breaching its charter obligations. He said, “The Secretary holds the view that the presentation in that episode of the aforesaid program has breached the One-China Principle and the purposes and mission of RTHK as a public service broadcaster as specified in the Charter.” (The Guardian)
Related postings on Chinascope:
- WHO: Criticisms Over Tedros for Being Too Supportive to the CCP
- WHO: Official Went to Wuhan but Didn’t Go to “Dirty Area”
1. Excerpt in Chinese:
世卫组织（WHO）总干事谭德塞的助手加拿大医生布鲁斯・艾尔沃德（Bruce Aylward）博士近日接受香港电台（RTHK）记者Yvonne（唐若韫）视频采访，回答有关中共病毒（武汉肺炎）全球大流行的问题。
当唐若韫问及WHO有无可能“考虑台湾加入”该组织时，艾尔沃德面无表情地静坐了几秒钟。
“哈啰？”记者问。
“很抱歉，我听不到你的问题，Yvonne”艾尔沃德回答。
记者问：“好的，让我重复这个问题。”
艾尔沃德没有等唐若韫说完，立即说：“不，那没关系，我们可以转到另一个（问题）。”
唐若韫仍坚持问这个问题，说她除了大流行病问题外，其实也“好奇”想要请教台湾的问题。此时，艾尔沃德身体稍微倾斜（似乎伸出手切断视讯）后，视讯中断。
这位香港电台记者再次打电话给艾尔沃德，继续询问他有关对台湾应对这次疫情的看法。
“嗯，我们已经讨论过中国了⋯⋯”，艾尔沃德对台湾问题仍避而不答，“谢谢你访问我们，祝你们在香港抗疫工作顺利。”
Source: Epoch Times, March 29, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/3/29/n11984650.htm
2. Excerpt in Chinese:
世卫组织在当天稍后发声明称，台湾加入世卫组织的问题取决于世卫组织会员国，而不是世卫组织官员。
Source: Radio France International, March 30, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/国际/20200330-断线门-后-世卫组织-台湾入会问题由所有成员国决定
3. Excerpt in Chinese:
美国国务卿蓬佩奥在周一受访时向媒体表示，美国国务院将“竭尽全力”帮助台湾在世界卫生组织里发挥“合适的作用”。
美国总统特朗普3月26日签署了在美国国会两院，得到共和及民主两党共同支持的《台北法案》。《台北法案》内容呼吁美国行政部门，对于采取行为伤害台湾安全或繁荣的国家，美方应考虑改变与其经济、安全及外交接触。与此同时，对于明显增强或升级与台湾关系的国家，美方应考虑增加与其在上述领域的接触。此外，这一法律还呼吁美国利用影响力或其他工具，支持台湾成为不以主权国家为参与资格的国际组织会员，并在其他适当组织中取得观察员身分。
Source: Radio France International, March 31, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/政治/20200331-蓬佩奥-将竭尽全力帮助台湾在世卫组织发挥适当作用
4. Source: The Guardian, April 3, 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/03/hong-kong-official-reprimands-tv-station-over-who-interview-that-mentioned-taiwan