Lane children require help with hunger.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Tom Shih The Register-Guard

Taiwanese people sincerely appreciate the United States' support that allows Taiwan to become an observer at the annual World Health Assembly. We are also grateful to the growing number of democratic societies, such as the European Union and Canada, that have expressed support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in the World Health Organization.

However, experience has taught us that Taiwan's participation in the organization can be meaningful only if it becomes a full member. We therefore appeal to the United States to urge the world to support organization membership for Taiwan.

Taiwan is the only country in East Asia that has succeeded in remaining free of the catastrophic H5N1 avian influenza pandemic that originated from China.

In addition, we have provided medical and technological assistance to Vietnam and other countries in the fight against avian flu, because we do not want the other countries to suffer the trauma we experienced during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic, or SARS, which likewise originated in China.

Nevertheless, the organization has refused Taiwan's applications to attend avian flu-related international conferences, thus preventing Taiwan from effectively sharing with the world its valuable experience in disease prevention.

In the critical beginning stage of the 2003 SARS epidemic, our people were left in the dark by China and the World Health Organization. It was only through our own efforts, and with assistance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that we were able to bring the epidemic under control.

Neither people in Taiwan nor the world can afford allowing a replay of this disaster, whether it involves a mutant H5N1 virus that is easily transmittable between humans or some other newly emergent pathogen.

The organization is investing heavily in building what it hopes will be a seamless global disease prevention and control network. Needless to say, its ostracism of Taiwan's 23 million people leaves a gaping hole in that network.

Moreover, the WHO secretariat has undermined this project by signing a secret memorandum of understanding with China that requires the organization to obtain China's permission before providing any information to Taiwan or inviting Taiwan to technical conferences.

Last year, Taiwan's representatives were unable to attend any of the six conferences. In four cases, its requests were rejected, and in the remaining two cases, the approval came too late for our representatives to prepare travel documents.

This situation is a recipe for disaster, both for Taiwan and the world. In the event of outbreak of a deadly infectious disease, a delay of even a few hours in sharing information and taking cooperative action could result in death and suffering on a massive scale.

The WHO degrades itself by being servile to Beijing. As an international organization, it must operate transparently. By signing a secret memorandum of understanding with China, the WHO secretariat has not only jeopardized the health of people in Taiwan and other countries, but has violated the right of member states to be thoroughly informed and take part in the making of important policy decisions.

Considering that about 22 percent of the organization's yearly regular budget comes from the United States, and that some 170,000 U.S. citizens reside in Taiwan, the United States should take action to ensure that its citizens' health rights are not violated when the organization bows to the demands of one member.

It is, therefore, very important for the government of the United States and other nations to realize that Taiwan's membership in the organization is essential to their interests.

They should demand that the organization reveal the details of the secret memorandum of understanding and that Taiwan not be excluded from the global health system in order to uphold the fundamental principle enunciated in the WHO Constitution: The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.

Tom Shih of Eugene ([e-mail]) is president of the Eugene Taiwanese Association.