Analysis: Why does WHO raise questions about Taiwan?

- Will the WHO reconsider whether or not Taiwan should be included in the organization?

Hong Kong-based journalist Yvonne Tang poses the question in a video interview with Canadian Bruce Aylward, who is the Deputy Secretary General of the World Health Organization, WHO.

Aylward reacts like a defiant teen who doesn't want to be reminded to do his homework or clean the room. He stares straight into the camera for a moment, then says he didn't hear the question. When Yvonne Tang repeats it, he hangs up.

The video with the embarrassing interview has spread like wildfire on social media.

Why is Taiwan such a sensitive issue for WHO? Shouldn't WHO leaders be interested in discussing all the successful ways to deal with the spread of the corona virus?

Before the weekend, Taiwan had confirmed in this context very few infected: only about 300 people. And only two Taiwanese have died of covid-19 - by a population of about 24 million people.

The starting point for Bruce Aylward's unwillingness to answer questions about Taiwan's place in the WHO is that member China sees Taiwan as part of China.

Leaders in Beijing have long resisted Taiwan's own membership in the health organization. Nor is Taiwan a member of the UN or any other international organization.

Despite having its own democracy, flag and military, Taiwan must not be considered a nation of its own, China says. And many of the world's countries are adhering to China's will on this sensitive issue.

Otherwise, Taiwan should be of great interest to those who study various virus spreading practices.

In short, one can say that Taiwan's successful method has been to act very quickly and very transparently. Already the week before Christmas, the infection protection authority in the main city of Taipei was alerted to the spread of a previously unknown coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

With half a million Taiwanese working in mainland China - many of them in just Wuhan - the authority realized that the infection also threatened Taiwan.

When Wuhan was quarantined in January, the Taiwanese immediately began to map all who traveled to the Wuhan area in recent times. Strict border controls with health checks on all mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau residents were introduced. They linked different health databases with the travel data of different people, and were thus able to effectively detect the movement of the virus and contact persons who could be infected.

But the danger is not over. Authorities in both mainland China and Taiwan are now preparing for a second wave of infection as the corona virus spreads across Europe and the United States. The Taipei board now says WHO is seriously risking Taiwanese lives by keeping Taiwan out of the organization.

Bruce Aylward's actions in the video interview are now diluting the criticism that WHO is in China's lap. His boss, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has been accused of being too submissive to Beijing, and questioned for not criticizing the Chinese for initially trying to hide the corona outbreak for the outside world.

In February, the WHO chief even praised China's corona management. Among other things, he said in a well-known interview that China knows what they are doing.

"If I got covid-19, I would like to get my treatment in China," said the WHO chief.

It's hard not to ask the question: did secondman Bruce Aylward really think he would drop Taiwan questions in an interview about corona management?