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Cardinal Joseph ZenClaire Chretien / LifeSiteNews

March 31, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The bishop emeritus of Hong Kong has questioned the World Health Organization (WHO)’s credibility after he called out one of the group’s officials for not answering a reporter’s question about Taiwan’s status in the organization.

Cardinal Joseph Zen challenged the WHO’s credibility in a tweet sent out Monday in response to an interview between WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward and a Hong Kong reporter.

In the interview, the reporter asks Aylward if he would consider offering Taiwan membership in the WHO. In reply, Aylward, a Canadian doctor who helped the WHO in the Wuhan region of China in its response to the coronavirus, asks the reporter to go to the next question, saying he cannot hear her. After the reporter asks again, the interview line goes silent.

In direct response to Aylward’s now viral interview, Zen was unapologetic in his criticism of the WHO.

On Twitter, Zen expressed his disappointment that “Aylward, the so-called expert of the WHO,” would “pathetically shy away from answering the question about Taiwan’s membership and performance, twice, by pretending not to hear the reporter and cutting the call.” Given the interaction, Zen asked how anyone can possibly trust the WHO.

According to this report, Aylward seems to have vanished from being tied to the WHO, with the report saying his information has “been scrubbed” off the internet.

Taiwan has reported a relatively low number of coronavirus cases and deaths. It has been highlighted, like Singapore, as a nation that appears to have the virus under control, without having gone down the route of enacting restrictive measures against its citizens.

Despite Taiwan being a self-governing democracy, China does not recognize its independence and considers it China’s own territory.

The WHO, under the direction of Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has come under fire from the Council on Foreign Relations for showing a high level of support for China.

The Council on Foreign Relations, along with many others, called out the fact that China has downplayed the coronavirus threat and withheld valuable information from other nations.

An internationally recognized expert on China, Steven Mosher, who is the founder and president of the Population Research Institute, recently warned that the Chinese regime cannot be trusted when its spokespeople say it has the virus under control.

He added that China has been untruthful about the coronavirus situation, especially when it comes to reporting statistics to other nations.

The mainstream media have also reported on those who have questioned the credibility of China’s official coronavirus death tally, as in the case of United States senator Tom Cotton, who said China “is still lying.”

In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews in February, Cardinal Zen criticized the Vatican for its silence on China’s abuses of power in Hong Kong as well as its treatment of Catholics in mainland China. He is also a vocal opponent to the Vatican’s recent China deal. Not long ago, he said he has evidence that the Vatican secretary of state “manipulated” Pope Francis with regard to that agreement.

According to Zen, the communist Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association has always “been objectively schismatic” and remains that way even with “the blessing from the Holy See.”