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New Zealand’s foreign minister said Tuesday the country had to 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.
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Taiwan is excluded from the WHO due to objections from China, which regards the autonomous island as its own.
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. China replied that the Pacific country “will stop making wrong statements.”
“We have to defend ourselves,” Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign minister, said at a press conference when asked about China’s comment.
“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.
‘Tremendous success’
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.
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.
SOURCE:
Reuters news agency
