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Taiwan donates 100,000 masks to Arkansas; lieutenant governor urges WHO observer status for Taiwan
Summary
Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin announced a donation of 100,000 face masks from Taiwan to Arkansas, praised Taiwan's pandemic response and urged that Taiwan be allowed observer status at the World Health Organization; a letter of thanks from Sen. Tom Cotton was also read.
Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin announced that the State of Arkansas has been given 100,000 face masks from the people of Taiwan at a press event, praising the donation as support for medical personnel fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Griffin said the boxed masks are marked "Taiwan can help" and thanked the people of Taiwan "for this gift of 100,000 masks." He said the masks are now in the custody of the state and that "the governor and the department of health have the authority to distribute them as needed." The event included representatives from the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management and congressional offices.
The donation came with a diplomatic message. Griffin said he believes "the people of Taiwan and the government of Taiwan should have a role at the WHO," adding that a U.S. commission report found that if Taiwan had been included as an observer early in the pandemic, "lives would have been saved" because Taiwan had critical information about the presence and spread of the virus. He said Taiwan had observer status "until 2016 or '17" and attributed the current absence to "pressure from outside".
Peter Chen, who identified himself as representing the Taiwan government in the southern United States and was introduced as "director general," thanked Griffin and Arkansas officials and framed the donation as a step to protect health-care workers. "Taiwan's response to this pandemic has received both attention and praise from the international community," Chen said, and he urged greater inclusion of Taiwan in global health efforts.
A letter from U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton thanking Taiwan for the PPE was read at the event by Vanessa Moody of Cotton's office. The letter praised Taiwan as "one of the United States' key democratic partners in the Asia-Pacific region" and thanked the island for the 100,000 masks on behalf of Arkansas' first responders, doctors and nurses.
Griffin said distribution of the masks will be handled by the governor's office and the Arkansas Department of Health; the press event concluded with a short question-and-answer period and a photo opportunity. No formal vote or official resolution was taken at the event.
