China Allows UN Agency to Help Fight Illness on Taiwan

China approved a World Health Organization (WHO) mission to Taiwan, opening up the ‘territory’ to a UN agency for the first time since 1972. As the number of SARS cases in China has continued to rise, so has the international pressure on China to respond more effectively to the SARS epidemic. At this historical juncture when Taiwan is registering a steady increase in SARS related cases, the WHO argued that access to Taiwan was a matter of "global health." This contributed to China’s acquiescence to the visit and a bypassing of bureaucratic protocol for access to Taiwan, which China claims as its "sovereign territory." Taiwan was forced out of the World Health Organization in 1972, and has remained isolated from contact with United Nation agencies. –YaleGlobal.