Overture 04-39. On Expressing Our Solidarity with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and with the Taiwanese People—From the Presbytery of New Covenant.

The Presbytery of New Covenant overtures the 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) take the following actions:

1. Humbly reaffirm the action of the 206th General Assembly (1994) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in which it affirms the “Resolution on the Future of Taiwan” (Minutes, 1994, Part I, p. 109; for text of resolution, see Minutes, 1983, Part I, pp. 446-47) and supports self-determination for people of Taiwan and for the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan in its struggle for freedom and human rights; and its support for Taiwan and its national integrity and selfhood in the community of nations.

2. Humbly direct the Stated Clerk to express our solidarity with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and with the Taiwanese people.

3. Humbly direct the Stated Clerk to express our support for the Taiwanese people to participate in the World Health Organization (WHO) to the president of the United States and urge the president to follow through with the action already taken by the United States Congress to the World Health Organization to accept Taiwan to be a member of WHO. Additionally, direct the Stated Clerk to also express our support for the Taiwanese people to the members of the United States Congress.

4. Humbly direct the United Nations Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to advocate for Taiwan’s application for WHO membership to international organizations whenever opportunities arise.

Rationale

According to the United States Center for Disease Control weekly report, on April 22, 2003, the Taiwan Department of Health (DOH) was notified of seven cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) among health-care workers at a large municipal hospital in Taipei. Subsequently, as of May 22, 2003, a total of 483 probable cases had been reported, including 45 cases among health-care workers, and 26 (19 percent) persons died.

The non-membership status left Taiwan without access to time-sensitive information through the United Nations World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), which dissipates essential information on the management and control of communicable and infectious diseases, such as SARS.

World Health Organization personnel arrived after SARS had been active in Taiwan already seven weeks. There were thirteen deaths reported between March 17 and May 7 (as of May 12, the number of deaths was twenty-four). Furthermore, WHO personnel while in Taiwan were prohibited from speaking directly to Taiwan’s government official or from making any public statement. At that time, the Taiwanese government and the United States Center for Disease Control had effectively enforced quarantine while WHO listed Taiwan in the international travel advisory category.

Although Taiwan was not a WHO member country, it adhered to WHO guidelines in transmitting its daily evaluation and status reports to WHO. The Taiwanese government promptly reported new cases voluntarily, unlike the lack of cooperation by People’s Republic of China, which downplayed SARS virus outbreak severity and prohibited media reports and WHO evaluation until the SARS virus had spread to Hong Kong and Canada. By concealing the SARS outbreak, China was responsible for the infection of more than 8,000 people in more than thirty countries.

The WHO is mandated to “attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.” Nevertheless, the 23 million Taiwanese people were deprived of their human rights to the services that WHO provides. Ironically, while the World Health Assembly rejected Taiwan’s bid for membership during the May 19-28, 2003, eighty-nine Taiwanese people died subsequently from SARS infection.

The SARS infection in Taiwan constituted a medical emergency according to WHO’s categorical system. More than thirty nations were infected by SARS, but only Canada, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were listed in WHO international travel advisory category as well as in the Pattern C of local transmission.

In the past, Taiwan has experienced WHO’s exclusion with devastating consequence. In 1998, the entero virus infection was transmitted from Malaysia that claimed the lives of nearly eighty Taiwanese children while Taiwan’s request for information in the virus outbreak was ignored by WHO.

Taiwan’s population of 23,500,000 people is greater than that of three-fourths of the member states already in the WHO.

While the 23 million people of Taiwan are entitled to equal and fair protection under the WHO system, Taiwan is also committed to do its part by working together with the world community and contributing its resources and experiences in order to advance the noble goal of health for all peoples. For example, in response to the 911 terrorist attacks in New York in 2001 and the resulting worldwide antiterrorist campaign, Taiwan has also contributed in significant ways. Both the Taiwan Tzu Chi Charity Foundation and the Taiwan Red Cross, for instance, swiftly assisted the victims and their families. Together with overseas donations and government contributions, Taiwan provided more than US$20 million to the Afghanistan humanitarian relief effort¾including medical goods, freight trucks, wool blankets, and other supplies. Furthermore, four Taiwanese medical teams are currently stationed in Burkina Faso, Malawi, Chad, and Sao Tome and Principe, where they assist the respective local governments.

The United States government has been actively advocating for the observer status for Taiwan in WHO. In addition, the United States Congress passed H.R. 422 and S. 243 that authorized the secretary of state to “initiate a United States plan to endorse and obtain observer status for Taiwan at the annual weeklong summit of World Health Assembly in May 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland.” The H.R. 422 and S. 243 were signed into public law by President Bush on May 29, 2003 (Public Law No: 108-28 bbc).