Taipei, April 2 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Wednesday that the world should condemn mainland China for its covering up of the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) , an atypical pneumonia.
The president noted that SARS is even more horrible than terrorists, saying that Beijing's concealing of SARS cases had led to its spread to the world; such an approach is "unhealthy, unethical, and a gross violation of universal human rights, which deserves condemnation by the world."
The president made the remarks when he received Rev. Chang Ching-hsiang, a high-ranking official of the Reform Church in America. The president lauded the church, saying that Chang is the first Taiwanese to serve in the post, which is also the pride of the Taiwan people.
President Chen said that there are currently two wars in the world, one is the U.S.-led military campaign against Iraq and the other is the war against SARS. Some also said that basically there is only one war, because both together are anti-terrorist campaigns in nature.
Chen said that the terror in fighting against SARS is actually more horrible than terrorists, as the medical world is still not sure about SARS' pathogen and treatment.
President Chen said that the atypical pneumonia originated in Guangdong in southeastern mainland China in late 2002, but Beijing has "covered it up for several months, " leading to its spreading to other parts of the world with Taiwan also bearing the brunt of it, which "we feel is truly regrettable."
He said that Taiwan hopes to join the World Health Organization (WHO) as an observer, but is still excluded from the WHO mainly because of the protestations of mainland China. "They could cover up the SARS outbreak, while Taiwan is hoping that it can prevent and treat the disease in tune with the world. The attitude of Beijing is something that we cannot imagine or comprehend," Chen said.
He said that he mentioned before that if mainland China would treat Taiwan people as human beings, it should not squeeze Taiwan, and exclude Taiwan from joining the WHO as an observer.