Taiwan urges China to release all information on new virus

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen urged China on Wednesday to release all information about outbreak of a new virus and work with Taiwan on curbing its spre.At China's insistence, Taiwan is t a member of World Health Organization and is t allowed to participate in any of its meetings.

However, large numbers of Taiwanese travel to and live in China, where hundreds of people have been sickened and nine have died in an outbreak that apparently originated in city of Wuhan.Despite Beijing's restrictions, Taiwan Center for Disease Control said earlier this month it h been tified on Jan. 15 by its Chinese counterpart about outbreak. It said it h also sent two experts to Wuhan to visit health care facilities in order to “better understand treatment process of cases."

Tsai me mention of those interactions at her news conference Wednesday.“I especially want to urge China, being a member of international society, that it should fulfill its responsibilities to make situation of outbreak transparent, and to share accurate information on outbreak with Taiwan," Tsai told reporters.

One case of previously unkwn coronavirus has been confirmed in Taiwan and ors in Macao, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and United States. Taiwanese patient, a businesswoman who recently returned from Wuhan, is recovering, Tsai said.

Sharing information is also important for health of Chinese population and Beijing “should t put political concerns above protection of its own people," Tsai said.

China regards Taiwan as its own territory and says it is t entitled to representation in most international bodies.“I want to reiterate that Taiwan is a member of international society. 23 million people here, like all or people in every corner of world, are facing threats to ir own health," Tsai said.

Taiwan, which was heavily affected by 2002-2003 SARS outbreak that also originated in China, has enacted strict monitoring, detection and quarantine measures.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Taiwanese experts h visited Wuhan at Taiwan's request on Jan. 13-14 and held exchanges with Chinese colleagues.“ one cares more about health welfare of Taiwan compatriots than Chinese central government," Geng said at a daily briefing on Wednesday.

(Im Credit:AP)