Referring to a Sankei Shimbun article, this piece criticizes WHO for effectively ignoring Taiwan’s December 31, 2019 warning about a respiratory infection in Wuhan and the possibility of human-to-human transmission. It examines WHO’s continued exclusion of Taiwan out of deference to China, and President Trump’s criticism of WHO’s pro-China response.

April 19, 2020
On December 31 of last year, Taiwan’s health authorities, based on information that a respiratory infectious disease had broken out in Wuhan, China, notified WHO’s contact point by email.
It is said that WHO replied only that it had “received” the message.
The following is from today’s Sankei Shimbun.
WHO ignored Taiwan’s warning.
Trump repeatedly criticizes its pro-China stance.
Washington, Yoshinari Kurose; Taipei, Akio Yaita; London, Kazumasa Bando.
On the 17th, regarding the response of the World Health Organization, WHO, to the novel coronavirus, U.S. President Trump criticized it on Twitter by quoting an expert’s statement asking, “Why did WHO ignore an email in which Taiwanese health officials warned last December that the novel coronavirus might involve human-to-human transmission?”
What Trump quoted was a contribution by Lanhee Chen, senior fellow in public policy at the Hoover Institution, an American policy research institute, published on the electronic edition of FOX News on the 14th.
Chen pointed out that “WHO ignored the email because it always treats Taiwan with hostility so as not to offend China.”
According to Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center, Taiwan’s health authorities, based on information that a respiratory infectious disease had broken out in Wuhan, China, notified WHO’s contact point by email on December 31 of last year.
It is said that the email clearly stated that there were symptoms suggesting severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, and that “patients were receiving isolation treatment.”
The center explained that, for a professional in the field of public health, the passage concerning “isolation treatment” would make it possible to judge the possibility of human-to-human transmission.
It is said that WHO replied only that it had “received” the message.
In another tweet, Trump referred to China’s upward revision of the number of deaths in Wuhan, pointing out that “China has announced that the number of deaths from the invisible enemy has doubled,” and asserting that “the actual number is much higher. Far higher than the number of deaths in the United States.”
Omission.
Because of opposition from China, which upholds the “One China” principle, Taiwan is not allowed to join WHO, nor is it even allowed to participate as an observer in the annual assembly.