How serious the coronavirus is depends on where you get your sources and who you believe.  But I think we can all agree it’s a major concern and countries have a good reason to have accurate and up-to-date information on the spread of the disease.

Given that fact, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) needs to explain why they refuse to provide Taiwan with information on the disease, and why a PRC national in charge of their twitter account is banning anyone criticizing the ICAO.  As Jessica Drun of the Project 2049 Institute says, “This is how a virus spreads.”

UN aviation agency blocks critics of Taiwan policy on Twitter

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has blocked numerous Twitter accounts — including ones belonging to Capitol Hill staffers and D.C.-based analysts — after facing online criticism for excluding Taiwan from membership.

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Jessica Drun, a non-resident fellow at the Taiwan-focused Project 2049 Institute criticized ICAO in a Jan. 22 tweet:

Want to drive the point home that two orgs, @WHO & @icao, refuse to share knowledge w/ Taiwan authorities. This means civil aviation authorities for one of busiest regional airports do not receive up-to-date info on any potential ICAO-WHO efforts.

This is how a virus spreads.

— Jessica Drun (@jessicadrun) January 22, 2020

Drun noticed on Jan. 25 that ICAO had blocked her on Twitter.

Qining Guang, a Chinese national who previously worked for the Civil Aviation Administration of China, is responsible for ICAO’s social media accounts, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Numerous other Twitter accounts were blocked around the same time, Axios has learned, including the accounts of several Hill staffers, analysts and an English teacher in Guangzhou. The accounts had posted similar criticisms.

It’s reckless and petty behaviour by the criminals in Beijing.