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BEIJING: Taiwan will fail to join a key meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) amid efforts to control the new coronavirus as its efforts are based on policy, not health problems, he said China on Friday (May 8).
The Taiwanese autonomous government has been lobbying to attend, as an observer, the May 18-19 ministerial meeting of the WHO decision-making body, the World Health Assembly (WHA), and has obtained the High-level support from the United States and various United States Allies, including Japan.
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China, under its “one China” policy, views Taiwan as a breakaway province that is not eligible for state-to-state relations or as a member of bodies like the WHO. Taiwan has diplomatic relations with only 15 countries, almost all of them small and developing.
Six of the 194 WHO member states had proposed inviting Taiwan as an observer to the WHA meeting, WHO chief legal officer Steven Solomon said at a UN briefing in Geneva on Friday.
He called eSwatini (Swaziland), the Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, Palau, Saint Lucia, and Paraguay, all of which recognize Taiwan over China.
Solomon said that since 1972, the WHA recognized Beijing as “the only legitimate representative of China” at its meetings, adding: “That decision still stands.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had “conditional discretion” to issue invitations, provided they are consistent with the WHO constitution and WHA policies, Solomon said.
“The only body with authority, control and power is the Assembly itself. It is not the director general, it is not the WHO secretariat,” he added.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the ruling Taiwan Progressive Democratic Party was trying to use the pandemic for political purposes.
“His so-called attempts to join the WHO and participate in WHA are not absolutely for the health and well-being of the people of Taiwan, but are a political manipulation and will not be successful,” he said.
‘DEEP DISAPPOINTING’
Taiwan says its exclusion from the WHO has created a dangerous gap in the global fight against coronavirus.
On Friday, his deputy prime minister, Chen Chi-mai, said at an event organized by a group of Washington experts that Taipei would continue to work with the United States on WHO’s participation.
“We believe that Taiwan is capable of contributing to the work of the WHO, including the response to the coronavirus pandemic,” he told the Center for Strategic and International Studies by conference call.
At the same event, the United States’ undersecretary of health, Eric Hargan, praised Taiwan’s work to contain the spread of the virus, adding:
“It is deeply disappointing that the World Health Organization has excluded Taiwan from participating in WHO and other WHO technical expert meetings. We hope they will return to the practice of inviting Taiwan as an observer at this year’s WHA.”
He said there were “some positive signs from other countries,” but gave no further details.
Taipei and Washington say Tedros has the power, if he so desires, to invite Taiwan to WHA. But diplomatic sources in Taiwan say it is unlikely to do so if China does not approve.
China’s Mainland Affairs Council for Policymaking on Thursday accused China of “using politics to infringe on health and human rights” and said the WHO “should not be manipulated by the political position of a single country”.
Taiwan attended WHA as an observer between 2009 and 2016, when relations between Taipei and Beijing were warmer.
China blocked further participation after the election of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, whom China considers to be separatist, a charge it rejects.
China says it has the right to represent Taiwan on the international stage, and he and the WHO say that Taipei received the help and information it needs during the pandemic, something that Taiwan disputes.
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