VANCOUVER—Amid the fight to contain the coronavirus outbreak, a Canadian-based arm of the United Nations has found itself facing allegations of censorship as well as appeasement of China’s Communist government.

The online row is the latest flashpoint in a long-standing debate around Taiwan — the self-ruled island considered by China to be one of its wayward provinces — one which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has freshly waded into.

This week, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is based in Montreal, blocked numerous critics on Twitter who were voicing calls for Taiwan and Taiwanese experts to be included in discussions around the outbreak of a new coronavirus.

In one case, a consultant was surprised to find he was blocked after only retweeting another user’s post calling for Taiwan’s participation.

Melbourne-based journalist Mike Yeo said he was blocked immediately after commenting that the volume of people being blocked made the UN agency seem “thin-skinned, while their action towards Taiwan counterproductive to aviation safety.”

Neither the ICAO nor the World Health Organization recognizes Taiwan’s sovereignty and will only work directly with Beijing.

On Satuday, the U.S. Department of State put out a statement, saying they were “deeply concerned about actions taken by the ICAO to suppress freedom of expression and curtail important discussion of Taiwan’s legitimate role in international issues.”

Speaking to loud cheers at a parliamentary session Wednesday, Trudeau reiterated Ottawa’s call for Taiwan’s involvement.

“We support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international multilateral forums, especially when its presence provides important contributions to the global public good (and) … is in the best interests of the international health community,” he said.

Some of the academics involved told the Star the ICAO’s moves to “silence” their suggestions have ramifications for the safety of about 60,000 Canadian nationals who live in Taiwan.

As the host country for the agency, they say Canada has a special stake in the issue and they applauded Trudeau’s response.

“We understand the nuance behind how the UN can and cannot engage with Taiwan … (but) in light of the coronavirus, channels should be explored to allow information-sharing with Taiwan authorities to ensure that the virus can be contained,” said Jessica Drun, a Washington, D.C.-based Taiwan-China expert at the Project2049 think tank.

In her tweet to the ICAO, Drun had noted that Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei is a major transportation hub and that there are frequent flights between Taiwan and mainland China.

Taiwan also has a number of medical professionals who can make contributions, she said, before the ICAO account blocked her.

ICAO is bound by a UN General Assembly resolution recognizing the People’s Republic of China based in Beijing as the lawful government of China, but Taiwan under the name “Chinese Taipei” has been an invited guest to an ICAO Assembly in 2013 following approval from Beijing, Drun noted.

Most criticisms have centred around whether it makes sense for Taiwan — as a major air-travel hub in Asia — not to have direct access to the agency to contribute in the fight against the coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

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The ICAO’s mandate is to work with member states to reach consensus on international civil aviation standards and recommend best practices in support of safety, efficiency and environmental sustainability in global civil aviation.

The body responded to criticisms on Twitter by stressing that “inaccurate, compromising or offensive material” will be blocked from posting to its social media accounts and linking to an updated social media policy.

On Thursday, the WHO declared the outbreak a global emergency after the number of novel coronavirus cases spiked tenfold in a week and has spread to more than a dozen countries. The backlash against ICAO’s handling of online discussions has been particularly swift in Washington and among Taiwanese people this week.

“Silencing voices that oppose ICAO’s exclusion of Taiwan goes against their stated principles of fairness, inclusion, and transparency,” the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement.

U.S. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s office on Twitter called the move “outrageous” and “another sign that the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to pressure and bully international organizations to bend to its demands are working.”

Another academic who was recently blocked by ICAO for his comments, Taipei-based researcher J. Michael Cole, told the Star that “the targeting of professionals who were asking legitimate questions is unacceptable.”

He commended Canada’s statements and said Ottawa can also encourage other member states to “signal their discontent with the manner in which ICAO has dealt with this matter.”

In a statement, ICAO communications officer William Raillant-Clark said there has been “mischaracterization of ICAO and ICAO’s activities by external parties.”

He said an “advocacy campaign” has fostered false claims that the ICAO is motivated to exclude any part of the world from access to public health and transport advice.

In response to the Star’s question about why Taiwan is not able to directly take part in ICAO deliberations on best aviation practices during regular meetings open to its 193 international members, Raillant-Clark said: “To the best of our understanding, (new ICAO standards and updates) are all being promptly shared by China with all of the applicable aviation stakeholders and officials in its sovereign territories.”

China sees Taiwan as a province that should be part of the country again, and has proposed that Taiwan join under a “one country, two systems” similar to the arrangement in semi-independent Hong Kong and Macau.

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen has rejected the offer, repeatedly vowing to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty and safeguard freedom and democracy on the self-ruled island. However, China suspects Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party of pushing for Taiwan’s formal independence, last year threatening war should it make such a move.

Hong Kong has been hit by months of anti-government protests triggered by widespread resentment of what many city residents see as relentless efforts by Beijing to exert control despite promises of autonomy.

Joanna Chiu is a Vancouver-based reporter covering both Canada-China relations and current affairs on the West Coast for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @joannachiu

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