A doctor checks the CT image of a patient's lungs in Zhangzhou Municipal Hospital in Zhangzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Feb. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiao Heyong)
China on Friday urged certain individuals in the United States and Taiwan region to stop all political hype and manipulation using the epidemic as an excuse.
Spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at an online news briefing when commenting on claims by relevant department of Taiwan that the mainland has provided the World Health Organization (WHO) with incorrect information about Taiwan's epidemic situation.
She was also commenting on U.S. allegation that WHO needs to engage in direct contact with Taiwan's public health department regarding the response to the epidemic.
According to Hua, since the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), the National Health Commission (NHC), attaching high importance to Taiwan compatriots' health, has kept the region informed with timely updates with a view to strengthening cross-strait technical exchange to jointly tackle the epidemic. It has shared with Taiwan 16 technical documents covering, among others, diagnostic and treatment solutions, prevention and control plans, guidelines on medical protective gear's scope of use as well as the virus' genome sequence and how this information was obtained.
With regard to Taiwan compatriots in the mainland confirmed to be infected with the virus, Hua said Chinese mainland has been feeding instant information to Taiwan, sharing latest developments and tracing close contacts.
"Upon verification with NHC, as of 10:00 February 7, Chinese mainland has updated Taiwan altogether 42 times on the epidemic and Taiwan has sent the mainland its 19th update. The statistics on Taiwan that the NHC reports to the WHO is based on information provided by Taiwan," said the spokesperson.
Hua reiterated that the WHO is a special UN agency consisting of sovereign states. Taiwan's participation in the activities of international organizations such as the WHO must be arranged through cross-strait consultations under the one-China principle.
According to arrangements between China and the WHO, medical and health experts from Taiwan can attend WHO technical meetings and WHO experts can travel to Taiwan to conduct research or provide assistance when such needs arise. The Taiwan region has timely access to information on global public health emergencies released by the WHO and information can also flow readily the other way.
With these arrangements in place, Taiwan is able to cope promptly and effectively with local or global public health emergencies, the spokesperson said.
