World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called a press conference on Wednesday in which he dodged questions on his repeatedly failed judgments on the COVID-19 Pandemic Response, yet launched attacks on Taiwan, saying: “I can tell you [about] personal attacks that have been going on for more than two, three months. Abuses, or racist comments, giving me names, black or Negro. I’m proud of being black, proud of being Negro,” and later specifying: “And Taiwan—the Foreign Ministry also—they know the campaign. They didn’t disassociate themselves. They even started criticizing me in the middle of all that insult and slur, but I didn’t care.” He even went on to frame it as Taiwanese “insulting the black community.”

In this shameful act of unprecedented proportions, Dr. Tedros Adhanom attacked a country who gave the earliest warning of a pandemic to the WHO, while shunning responsibility of failure to lead a swift response.

Taiwan has been shut out of many international organizations, including the WHO, due to pressure from China. Therefore, we were unable to receive timely information from the international community and can’t contribute our share of knowhow. Nevertheless, we persisted through the pandemic, despite being close to the source of the virus, China. Meanwhile, with no support from international organizations, we acted alone in providing medical aid and supplies to countries in much need of them.

Globally, many countries maintain friendly and close relationships with Taiwan. Yet under enormous Chinese pressure, Taiwan’s formal diplomatic allies are mostly with Pacific Islands, Caribbean and African countries with a wide range of different ethnic backgrounds. Over the years, Taiwan has been assisting with their development projects in agriculture, public health and basic infrastructure. Taiwan has earned the respect and friendship of many local communities in our allied countries. This is well-known in international society and leaves no room for Dr. Tedros Adhanom’s imaginary slander.

Since late last year, the WHO has been working with the Chinese government in downplaying the emerging crisis. Its series of false statements led many countries to misjudge the magnitude of the threat and caused a global pandemic, subjecting many Asians to live in fear of discrimination around the world. The WHO and Chinese government are the real culprits of the racial conflicts.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom, stop using attacks on Taiwan to divert attention away from what is the WHO’s responsibility of failed responses. Within the WHO, Taiwan, not being a member country, has no opportunity to speak up for itself, a situation not only unfair to Taiwan but also to the international community, and these attacks only serve to deplete the WHO’s credibility. Dr. Tedros Adhanom, do something to combat the virus, not Taiwan!

(Cover photo by Frank Schwichtenburg, Wikimedia Commons)