China’s exclusion of Taiwan imperils health and now counterterrorism
Michael Rubin
When SARS swept across Asia in 2003, it knew no borders. Taiwan sought to attend a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting charting a strategy to combat the disease, but Beijing vetoed its participation. China likewise impeded WHO-Taiwan cooperation against the backdrop of the 2004 bird flu epidemic. In a compromise the following year, China and WHO signed a memorandum agreeing that WHO would communicate any health-related matters first to Beijing, which then would convey the information to Taiwan. The arrangement undercut health. In one case, China informed Taiwan only after a ten-day delay that corn it imported may have been contaminated with a bacterial infection. Over the past decade, WHO has excluded Taiwan from over 70% of its technical meetings.
Communist China’s willingness to risk global health to score diplomatic points against Taiwan extended to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Dec. 31, 2019, Taiwan queried WHO about potential for COVID-19 human-to-human transmission. Out of sensitivity to Beijing, WHO did not reply. WHO subsequently ignored Taiwan’s attempts to exchange information about COVID-19 and best practices, even though these might have benefited other countries.
Nor does China only endanger lives by prioritizing its own animosity toward Taiwanese democracy over global health. When the Islamic State erupted, it shocked the world. President Barack Obama assembled a global coalition to defeat the Islamic State. Taiwan’s government and its non-governmental organization have given approximately $35 million in assistance to refugees and communities liberated from the Islamic State. Taiwan, for example, has funded de-mining operations in Syria and provided 20 sets of de-mining equipment to Iraq. It has dedicated a half million dollars to rebuild Yazidi agricultural villages in Sinjar and an equal amount to support education in Kurdish-controlled Syria. The U.S. has recognized Taiwan’s contribution, honoring its support for humanitarian and stabilization efforts at a U.S. Institute of Peace reception.
How ironic it is then that the White House and State Department stand aside as China, which never contributed to the Global Coalition against the Islamic State, undermines Interpol’s ability to cooperate with Taiwan. This comes even as Taiwan’s sporadic under-the-table cooperation with the international police organization has helped track down fugitives and recover tens of millions of dollars of stolen or embezzled funds. In 2022, at Beijing’s request, Interpol rejected granting Taiwan observer status at its General Assembly, nor will China allow Taiwan to access the I-24/7 Global Police Communications System to detect lost and stolen travel documents.
The inability to share intelligence on potential terrorists and those using fraudulent or stolen travel documents poses a global risk far beyond Taiwan. That first the Trump administration and then the Biden White House tolerated such Chinese antics is inexcusable.
As Turkey releases Islamic State detainees against the backdrop of the earthquake and as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demands the United States and others stop funding Syrian Kurds who maintain other prisons for Islamic State fighters, the risk of terrorism will grow. It is time the United States embraces and respects not only the money Taiwan contributes, but also its spirit. It is time to stand up for Taiwan at Interpol, even making U.S. involvement with the agency contingent on Taiwan’s participation. Like pandemics, terrorism and international crime know no borders. It is time to stop allowing Communist China’s temper tantrums and filibustering to gut international organization and impede cooperation.
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Michael Rubin (@mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.