History News Network
Date: 5/17/2020
By: Keith Clark

In early April, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus requested “please don’t politicize this virus.” Tedros made his remarks after U.S. President Donald J. Trump threatened to withdraw funding from the organization, a threat Trump made reality to the dismay of leaders around the world. States around the globe are dealing with the outbreak of the worst viral infection since the 1918 Flu. COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has upended societies from where it originated in Wuhan, China, to New York City, United States. Trump’s decision to cut funding for the WHO in the midst of a pandemic was political theater, which Tedros noted and sought to prevent. Tedros’s critique that leaders not politicize the COVID-19 was valid, but also dismissive of the WHO’s political role.

Towards the end of April, Taiwan has had 429 people infected with COVID-19 and 6 die. Researchers at Johns Hopkins originally forecast Taiwan would have one of the highest number of infections outside China. How has an island of nearly 24 million that is a global transportation hub separated from China by 180 kilometers, and just over 1,000 kilometers from where the disease originated, managed to contain the spread of COVID-19 so effectively? To answer that question, one cannot turn to the WHO. This was dramatically revealed when a Hong Kong journalist asked WHO Assistant General-Director Bruce Aylward over Skype about Taiwan’s response to the virus. Dr. Aylward first pretended to not hear the question, then ended the call when asked again. When the journalist called back to get an answer about Taiwan, she was told they’d already discussed China.
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