Mr. Speaker, I compliment my colleague for this motion, which at its heart trumps human lives over international politics. That is what this is about: human lives. This motion is important, whether someone lives in Taiwan or China, because whether it is SARS or a much larger problem such as the pandemic of AIDS, the diseases spreading across borders today are an offshoot of globalization.
As our international community becomes more global and barriers fall, it is important for us to have an integrated health care response that will muster up an international response to international health care concerns. We have seen this with SARS. We have seen what is happening right now in Taiwan. We have seen what is happening in China. SARS is only one of a litany of problems that we have to deal with today and which we will have to deal with in the future.
The fact that Taiwan is simply asking for observer status shows that it has no interest whatsoever in thumbing its nose at China, in trying to give China a bad name or trying to disrespect it in some fashion. In the motion that my colleague has put forth, the people of Taiwan want to be a participant, not only for the people of Taiwan but also for the people of China. This motion will help the health of the people of China, it will help the people of Taiwan and it will help the international community.
What response has my colleague had so far from the government on this very fine motion?