I am a legislator from Taiwan. Let me share a story about the friendship between Ethiopian and Taiwanese people for you.
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While Tedros, the director-general of WHO, has been criticizing Taiwan wrongly, Taiwan has been helping Tedros’ Ethiopian fellows for decades.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was born in Asmara ( Ethiopia) in 1965. He served as Minister of Health and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia successively. His professional field is microbiology.
Despite being criticized wrongly by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for racial discrimination, in fact, Taiwan has assisted his hometown of Ethiopia through various semi-official and unofficial channels for many years. Taiwan has been helping Ethiopia in many fields such as health care, nutrition and food assistance, education, children and women ’s rights , Psychological and social support, water resources, improving livelihood capacity and income, emergency relief supplies, etc..
According to the “International Cooperation and Development Foundation(ICDF)” totally supported by the Taiwan government budget, there were several Ethiopian students who participated in the “Program of the International Cooperation and Human Resources Training Workshop” held by ICDF in 2012. Some other students participated in the “Clean Energy Development Strategy program” in 2017.
The ICDF said that applications for training must be recommended by the Taiwan Embassy or an international organization. The ICDF will provide financial aid completely for the two-week workshop including the round-trip flight tickets, meals, accommodation and transportation while in Taiwan. The rough estimate of cost was about USD 5,000 for one student.
In addition, there were 5 Ethiopian personnels participated in the "Medical Staff Training Program for Friendly Nations Program" held by ICDF in 2018. The trainees were trained in the Pediatrics Department of Mackay Memorial Hospital and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the Tri-Service General Hospital in Taiwan. The ICDF and the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs are responsible for the expenses.
The 5 trainees were trained in Taiwan for 1 to 3 months. Besides the hospitals’ funding, Taiwan still needed to cover the expense including flight tickets, allowances, insurance, etc.. It cost at least USD 3000 for each one.
Another story was happened in March of 2020. There was a short-term exchange student named Mary from Ethiopia. She needed an emergency operation for venous thrombosis abruptly. Because she was not eligible for Taiwan health insurance, the medical cost was up to USD 50,000. She expressed that she couldn’t afford the surgery. Later, Mary got donation from the hospital healing her, several Taiwanese cherish organizations, and individuals. All the expenses got zeroed by these Taiwanese beneficence.
Yes, Taiwan Government has criticized the director-general of WHO severely. The first reason is his failing to fulfill duties(e.g., he ignored the crucial information provided by Taiwan at Dec 31st in 2019 and the information was about there were 27 cases similar with SARS and highly human-to-human transmission possibilities). This is not about the COLOR. This is about thousands of departed human lives for his failure against Covid-19. Secondly Taiwan is the only one left behind by WHO. This is DISCRIMINATION made by WHO for decades.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, should apologize to Taiwan and stop being manipulated by China. And Tedros is welcome to visit Taiwan. He may get the briefing of epidemics prevention by Taiwan and see the beauty of Taiwan.
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