Mainland rebukes Taiwan's claims of false information

All statistics of Taiwan's novel coronavirus cases which the Chinese mainland has reported to the World Health Organization were based on information provided by Taiwan, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday.

If there is any error in the statistics, it would be because Taiwan had misinformed the Chinese mainland, Hua said, rebuking the Taiwan authorities' accusation that the Chinese mainland has provided false information about cases in Taiwan.

As of 10 am on Friday, the Chinese mainland has updated Taiwan 42 times on the epidemic, and has been updated by the latter 19 times, Hua said.

Since the virus outbreak, the National Health Commission has been updating Taiwan on the epidemic in a timely fashion, and has offered to share 16 technical documents including diagnostic and treatment solutions, prevention and control plans and guidelines on the scope of use of common medical protective gear, Hua said.

The commission has taken the initiative to share the virus's genome sequence and the way the data was obtained, wasted no time briefing the region on cases of Taiwan compatriots confirmed in the Chinese mainland, and worked with it to trace close contacts, Hua added.

Taiwan has accused the Chinese mainland of blocking its access to the WHO. The United States said the WHO should engage directly with Taiwan.

In response, Hua said Taiwan must take part in the WHO's activities according to the one-China principle and after talks with the Chinese mainland, as the organization consists of sovereign countries.

She said medical experts in Taiwan can attend WHO technical meetings, and WHO experts can travel to Taiwan to conduct research or provide assistance if necessary.

Taiwan can get the WHO's information on global public health emergencies so can it brief the WHO on local emergencies in a timely fashion, she added.

Through these arrangements China has made with the WHO, Taiwan can respond promptly to public health emergencies, Hua said, urging Taiwan's authorities and the US to stop "the political hype".