[Middle Powers]

[James J Y Hsu]

After so many years, the WHO remains comfortable with what it did or did not do for the world. Its actions cast doubt on its ability to safeguard global health by denying its failures and refusing to implement reforms, all while playing along with a superpower. The WHO can serve humanity better, only if it keeps politics out of science.

COVID-19 is one example of how a superpower such as China can ruin so many lives and livelihoods. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is another. The world needs to be alarmed whenever a superpower can turn against its own people. That brutality would not be limited to domestic abuses. The world has witnessed enough of the imperialism game.

Ukraine has been able to stand up against a superpower bully, with the help of middle powers through military support and economic sanctions. By holding off Russia on the military front, crippling Moscow’s war chest and bringing the war to Russia to give the aggressor a taste of its own medicine, Ukraine has shown that when the middle powers work together, they can counter superpower aggression.

The COVID-19 pandemic also demonstrates that a middle power such as Taiwan is crucial for humanity to uphold truth and safety.

The rise of a new world order of middle powers is timely to help secure stability when the US is more inclined toward serving its own interests.