The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized Taiwan for discriminating against him. The Taiwan government rejected the blame. Then Beijing had its people, pretending to be Taiwanese, post apologies on the Internet to create a fake display of “Taiwanese people apologizing to Tedros.”
On April 8, Tedros said at a press conference, “Please do not politicize this virus. If you want to be exploited and if you want to have many more body bags, then you do it. If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.”
He then said that he has been under racist attacks for months and that Taiwan’s foreign ministry was responsible for the threats and racist abuse. “This attack came from Taiwan. They even started criticizing me in the middle of all those insults and slurs. I say it today because it’s enough.”
Taiwan, though just across the Taiwan Strait form mainland China, has produced an amazing coronavirus containment result with only 380 cases and five deaths so far.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan was opposed to discrimination. “For years, we have been excluded from international organizations and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated. If Director-General Tedros could withstand pressure from China and come to Taiwan to see Taiwan’s efforts to fight Covid-19 for himself, he would be able to see that the Taiwanese people are the true victims of unfair treatment.”
Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the Tedros’ comments were “irresponsible” and the accusations “imaginary.” The ministry said it was seeking an apology for “slander.”
Then many postings supposedly from the Taiwanese people apologizing to Tedros showed up on the Internet. The apology postings usually said, “I’m a Taiwanese. I am extremely ashamed of the Taiwanese people’s racial discrimination and malicious attack on Tedros. I am willing to apologize to Tedros and all black groups on behalf of the Taiwanese and beg for his forgiveness.”
The Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice in Taiwan reported that it was people from mainland China who created those articles. It stated that mainland China’s Free Xuzhou Twitter account first created those postings. It made the posting into a template and called for other users to “pretend to be Taiwan citizens,” to fill in the template and then to post them. They also attached a screenshot of Taiwanese’ IDs to make it look real.
Related postings on Chinascope:
- WHO: WHO Official’s React to Taiwan Question and Response from U.S. and Hong Kong Afterward
- 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:
谭德塞周三在记者招待会上驳斥特朗普所言世卫与中国关系过于严密的指责，表示，世卫与每个国家都保持密切关系，而且一视同仁。 他同时要各界团结，停止将这场全球卫生危机“政治化”。他特别敦促中国和美国表现出“诚实的领导力”。
谭德赛在批评美国将疫情“政治化“时，还放狠话说， “如果想被病毒利用，如果想看到更多的装尸袋，那就去做；如果不想，就应让病毒远离政治，将疫情与政治隔离。”特朗普周三对此回应说：“当谭德塞说政治化时，他才是政治化的人，细看世卫组织与中国的关系，不敢相信他居然敢谈政治化”。特朗普也再度炮轰世界卫生组织面对新冠疫情做得太少。他说，美国提供世卫的资金是中国的10倍，世卫却似乎事事都照着中国的意愿做，这对美国不公平，也对世界不公平。
谭德赛在周三的讲话中，忽然点名指责来自台湾和台湾外交部对他的人身攻击已超过3个月，包括媒体评论，给他冠上各种称号，说他是黑人等等。他说不在乎过去甚至有死亡威胁，但当黑人及非洲族群被侮辱时，他再也不能忍受，并连讲两次“够了”。
对于谭德赛的指责，台湾外交部发出严正声明，指这是没有根据的不实指控，并要求谭德塞向台湾道歉。
对于谭德赛的指责，台湾外交部发出严正声明，指这是没有根据的不实指控，并要求谭德塞向台湾道歉。
Source: Radio France International, April 9, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/国际/20200409-谁在-政治化-疫情-谭德赛称遭到台湾攻击和歧视-台湾驳斥
2. Excerpt in Chinese:
世界卫生组织秘书长谭德塞8日面对国际批评他处理疫情不当，指责台湾过去3个月对他人身攻击。台湾外交部要求谭德塞应立即更正其毫无依据的指控，并向我国道歉。网络流传台湾人向世卫组织秘书长谭德塞道歉的大量文章。调查局今天表示，相关讯息是大陆网民集体刻意炒作，假台湾人之名向谭德塞坦承种族歧视攻击并乞求原谅。
台湾调查局今天召开记者会表示，全体自由电台中文网推特帐号昨天发表“谭德塞称台湾进行人身攻击”相关文章，当天下午该则贴文即出现一名用户“以台湾人之名发表道歉留言”，经溯源调查，该用户应来自大陆。
据调查局指出，假道歉文内容为“我是台湾人，我为台湾人这样种族歧视恶毒攻击谭德塞而感到无比羞耻，我愿意代表台湾人向谭德塞和所有黑人群体道歉，乞求他的原谅。”调查局指出，大陆自由徐州电台推特帐号随后制成假道歉文“模板”，号召其他用户利用模板“伪装成我国网民发布假道歉文”，即开始出现大量境外网民发布或转贴假道歉文的状况，同时为求拟真，竟配合发布台湾证件照片截图以取信他人。
台湾调查局说，大陆网民集体刻意炒作，假台湾人之名向谭德塞公开承认对其种族歧视攻击并乞求原谅，此举严重危害台湾国际声誉，恐引发不可预期后遗症，将持续调查境外势力集体炒作假讯息情事，呼吁民众谨慎识别网络假讯息，切勿轻易转传不实讯息。
Source: Radio France International, April 10, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20200410-中国网络现假冒台湾人承认攻击并要谭德塞向台道歉