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TAIPEI (REUTERS) – Taiwan’s health minister on Friday (May 15) rejected China’s main condition for the island to participate in the World Health Organization (WHO), which accepts that it is part of China, before of a key meeting of the body during a pandemic.
At a press conference in Taipei to express Taiwan’s desire to participate, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said there was no way for Taiwan to do this.
“I have no way to accept something that doesn’t exist,” Chen said, adding that Taiwan will not give up on efforts to attend the health assembly, even though it has not received an invitation.
Taiwan, which is not a WHO member, has lobbied to participate as an observer at next week’s World Health Assembly (WHA), with strong objections from Beijing, which regards Taiwan as one of their provinces.
Taiwan says the coronavirus pandemic has made it more urgent than ever that it be allowed adequate access to WHO.
China says that Taiwan can only participate under the “one China” principle, in which it accepts that it is part of China.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the ruling Taiwan Progressive Democratic Party had refused to do this, so the political basis for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO “had ceased to exist.”
The issue has taken on broader diplomatic significance thanks to strong support from the United States and Japan, in particular for Taiwan to attend WHA, to the wrath of China.
China says it has the right to represent Taiwan on the international stage. Taiwan says that only its democratically elected government can speak for the island’s 23 million people.
“We can represent our own people,” Taiwan Deputy Foreign Minister Kelly Hsieh said at the same press conference in Taipei. “We hope that WHO can put aside political considerations and be neutral and professional.”
Taiwan attended WHA as an observer between 2009 and 2016, when relations between Taipei and Beijing were warmer.
But China blocked further participation after the election of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, whom China considers to be separatist, a charge it rejects.
The WHO says it does not have a mandate to invite Taiwan to WHA and that only member states can decide.
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