US and its allies call for Taiwan to be allowed to take part in WHO meeting
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Taiwan’s government says Beijing has no right to speak for or represent Taiwan on the international stage.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
TAIPEI - The US and several of its allies, including Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan, issued a joint statement on May 24 calling for Taiwan to be allowed to take part in a key meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in May.
Taiwan is excluded from most international organisations because of objections by China, which considers the democratically governed island its territory. Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims.
Taiwan attended the WHO’s World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer from 2009 to 2016 under the administration of then President Ma Ying-jeou, who signed landmark trade and tourism agreements with China.
But Beijing began blocking Taiwan’s participation in 2017 after former president Tsai Ing-wen won office, for her refusal to agree to China’s position that both China and Taiwan are part of “one China”.
“As this year’s 77th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) commences in Geneva, Taiwan remains largely excluded from the world’s international health system,” said the joint statement issued by the de facto embassies of the United States and others in Taipei.
“Inviting Taiwan as an observer would best exemplify the WHO’s commitment to an inclusive, ‘health for all’ approach to international health cooperation,” it said.
“Taiwan’s isolation from the WHA, the pre-eminent global health forum, is unjustified and undermines inclusive global public health cooperation and security, which the world demands.”
Speaking in Taipei, Taiwanese Health Minister Chiu Tai-yuan said a delegation would travel to Geneva for meetings on the sidelines with friendly countries.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung blamed China for Taiwan’s exclusion, saying health should not be politicised.
“We hope to improve relations across the Taiwan Strait, but we cannot sacrifice Taiwan’s sovereignty,” he said.
The US and some of its most important allies, which do not have formal diplomatic ties with Taipei, have repeatedly called for Taiwan to be allowed to take part, infuriating Beijing.
China’s Foreign Ministry said that given Taiwan’s government will not accept the “one China” principle, there is no “political basis” for its WHA participation.
Taiwan’s government says Beijing has no right to speak for or represent Taiwan on the international stage.
China detests Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who took office on May 20, believing he is a “separatist”, and on May 23 launched two days of war games near the island to express anger
The WHO has said Taiwan’s participation is a matter for member states to decide, and that it “facilitates the involvement of Taiwanese experts in WHO technical activities”. REUTERS
