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WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s foreign minister said on Tuesday the country must defend itself after China warned that its endorsement of Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) could damage bilateral ties.
Taiwan, with strong support from the United States, has stepped up its lobbying to be allowed to participate as an observer in next week’s World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO decision-making body, a move that has angered China.
Taiwan is excluded from the WHO due to the objections of China, which considers the island as one of its provinces.
Senior ministers in New Zealand last week said Taiwan should be allowed to join the WHO as an observer given its success in limiting the spread of the new coronavirus, sparking the wrath of China that asked the Pacific country to “stop make wrong statements. “
“We have to defend ourselves,” Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign minister, said at a press conference when asked about China’s response to New Zealand’s position on Taiwan.
“And true friendship is based on equality. However, it is based on this friendship’s ability to disagree.”
Peters said he did not believe the problem would harm diplomatic ties to China, which is New Zealand’s largest trading partner.
Taiwan has reported only 440 coronavirus cases and seven related deaths, relatively low numbers attributed to early and effective disease prevention and control work.
Peters praised Taiwan’s response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and said there was much that other countries could learn from.
“New Zealand’s position on Taiwan is about its tremendous success against COVID-19,” Peters said.
When asked about China’s response later in the day, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand’s position on Taiwan was only related to its health response to COVID-19.
“We have always adopted a ‘One China’ policy, and that remains the case,” said Ardern.
Speaking in Taipei, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou expressed her appreciation for New Zealand’s support, saying that both countries were strong supporters of freedom, democracy and human rights and that Taiwan would deepen ties. with New Zealand.
Taiwan regrets China’s threats against New Zealand, Ou said, adding that the response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry was “hysterical.”
Ties between neighboring Australia and China have weakened in recent months after Canberra called for an international investigation into the origins and spread of the coronavirus, which was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
China has dismissed such an investigation as groundless, saying the country has been open and transparent about the outbreak.
(Report by Praveen Menon; Additional report by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Edition by Christopher Cushing and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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