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The World Health Organization (WHO) is being accused of "carrying China's water" after a senior adviser refused to acknowledge Taiwan during a bizarre interview with a Hong Kong news outlet.
Canadian physician Dr. Bruce Aylward, an aide to WHO director-general Dr.Tedros Adhanom, sat down for a video interview with RTHK about the coronavirus outbreak where he was asked whether the organization would "consider Taiwan's membership."
For several seconds, Aylward sat in silence.
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"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear your question Yvonne," Aylward responded.
"Okay, let me repeat the question," she said.
"No, that's okay. Let's move to another one then," the WHO official told her.
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The reporter doubled down, saying she was "curious" to talk about Taiwan as well as the ongoing pandemic, but Aylward quickly hangs up.
After calling him again, the reporter asked about what his thoughts were to Taiwan's response to the outbreak.
"Well, we've already talked about China," Aylward answered. "And you know, when you look across all the different areas of China, they've actually all done quite a good job."
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Critics slammed Aylward and WHO for what they suggested was the global organization kowtowing to China.
"Aylward's behavior reminds us that either we remove #China's pernicious influence in multilateral institutions like the #WorldHealthOrganization or the world's free states defund them and start over," author Gordon Chang reacted.
It is an embarrassing scene, journalist Ezra Cheung said. "Ironically, despite being so close to China, Taiwan manages to keep the #coronavirus infection and fatality rate low."
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"This is really stunning. Beijing’s power over the speech of a Canadian WHO official," Axios reporter Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian tweeted.
"When exactly did the WHO become a front for Chinese propaganda?" Grabien media company founder/editor Tom Elliott asked.
WHO did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
dd22qq on March 28th, 2020 at 21:46 UTC »
UPDATE: Tellingly, Dr. Bruce Aylward has since been removed from the WHO website, his webpage (www.who.int/dg/adg/aylward/en/) now redirects to the general leadership team page, which lists no mention of him. Cached version of his original webpage here or here.
keiyakusha on March 28th, 2020 at 19:27 UTC »
Politics aside, how does an experienced physician giving a news interview decide that faking internet issues was the best way to avoid a difficult question?
When someone first showed this to me I refused to believe it was anything but edited satire.
Edit: At my municipal public health organization, even our low-level management is required to take media training. I'm just surprised that an organization as big as WHO failed to properly equip this doctor to deal with such a popular political talking point.
donfelicedon2 on March 28th, 2020 at 18:51 UTC »
Speech 100