Cardinal Joseph Zen, the emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, has raised questions about the independence of the World Health Organization after a senior WHO official refused to take questions on Taiwan’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. In a video interview last week with Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK, Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s lead advisor to China, declined to comment on Taiwan’s Covid-19 measures and its current lack of WHO member status. At one point, Dr Aylward even appeared to hang up on his interviewer, Yvonne Tong, in response to the line of questioning. When the reporter called Aylward back to allow him to speak about the situation in Taiwan, the Canadian epidemiologist praised public health efforts "across all the different areas of China" but made no mention of Taiwan. Taiwan wishes to be considered an independent sovereign state, a status rejected by the People’s Republic of China, which considers it a "renegade province" of China. Consequently, China has demanded that international organizations such as the UN and WHO dismiss Taiwan’s requests for membership, and it has withheld diplomatic relations from the 14 countries that still officially recognise Taiwan. Sino-Vatican relations have been centred exclusively in Taiwan ever since the Chinese Communist regime banished the Holy See’s diplomatic mission in 1951. The Holy See's 2018 "provisional agreement" with the Chinese government has been interpreted as a potential "prelude" to a breaking of ties with Taiwan. Cardinal Zen has been a prominent critic of the Chinese government and its 2018 agreement with the Vatican. On Twitter, he criticised the WHO official for shying away from such questioning and said that it made trust in the organization impossible.