A confidential WHO memo reminding its agencies that Taiwan is a “Province of China” has come to light and thrown a spanner in the works for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who has taken great pride in the nation’s renewed interaction with the UN organization. His administration is now hurriedly spinning the situation, with the Cabinet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Health “clarifying” the situation and saying they will file a protest with the WHO. However, protesting now about an internal document that was sent out by the office of WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍) on Sept. 14 last year is too little, too late.
When Taiwan exited the UN in 1971, it lost its WHO membership. During the SARS epidemic in 2003, which seriously affected the nation, exclusion from the international disease prevention system led to persistent domestic demands for renewed membership in the WHO.
In 2009, Chan’s office sent a letter to the Department of Health, addressing its head as “minister,” and informing the department that the nation would be party to the International Health Regulations (IHR). Taiwan was also invited to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer.
At the time, the WHO acceded to China’s request that all data and information intended for Taiwan should first pass through China. This odd arrangement, which is unique among all other member states and observers, raised questions about whether China and the WHO had struck a deal under the table. At the time, a memorandum of understanding between China and the WHO caused heated debate, but no evidence of a secret arrangement was ever found.
However, the secret internal WHO memo obtained by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), in which Chan stated that the WHO’s implementation of the IHR must comply with WHA resolution 25.1, which defines Taiwan as a “Province of China,” offers proof that a 2005 memorandum of understanding between the WHO and China seemingly granted China suzerainty over Taiwan.
After the internal memo was revealed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged that it had received the document before the media had, but had not taken any action. The government’s inaction should be decried as incompetence, pure and simple, and its decision to cover up the incident was negligence of duty. Nothing happened until a legislator and the media revealed the truth about the government’s complicit participation: It was happy to let the WHO refer to Taiwan as a province of China, so long as the Taiwanese public knew nothing about it.
The Ma administration has always believed that as long as it managed to improve cross-strait relations, Taiwan would be able to participate in more international organizations. It also believed that insisting on the so-called “1992 consensus” would facilitate improved cross-strait relations, regardless of the fact that China and the world see the “consensus” as another word for the “one China” principle.
The confidential WHO memo has revealed Ma and his administration are deceiving both themselves and the public, while the rest of world views the Taiwanese representative not as an independent national observer, but rather a representative of a Chinese province.
Whether Taiwan is ruled by a DPP or a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration, participation in international organizations will be difficult. The Ma administration’s only concern is the superficial scoring of political points — it doesn’t care about practical results. This not only hurts Taiwanese sovereignty, but is also eroding public trust in the government.
The conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. The private credit market is where companies borrow funds directly from nonbank financial institutions such as asset management companies, insurance companies and private lending platforms. Its popularity has risen since
The Donald Trump administration’s approach to China broadly, and to cross-Strait relations in particular, remains a conundrum. The 2025 US National Security Strategy prioritized the defense of Taiwan in a way that surprised some observers of the Trump administration: “Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority.” Two months later, Taiwan went entirely unmentioned in the US National Defense Strategy, as did military overmatch vis-a-vis China, giving renewed cause for concern. How to interpret these varying statements remains an open question. In both documents, the Indo-Pacific is listed as a second priority behind homeland defense and
In an op-ed published in Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that Taiwan should not have to choose between aligning with Beijing or Washington, and advocated for cooperation with Beijing under the so-called “1992 consensus” as a form of “strategic ambiguity.” However, Cheng has either misunderstood the geopolitical reality and chosen appeasement, or is trying to fool an international audience with her doublespeak; nonetheless, it risks sending the wrong message to Taiwan’s democratic allies and partners. Cheng stressed that “Taiwan does not have to choose,” as while Beijing and Washington compete, Taiwan is strongest when
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) are expected to meet this month in Paris to prepare for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). According to media reports, the two sides would discuss issues such as the potential purchase of Boeing aircraft by China, increasing imports of US soybeans and the latest impacts of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. However, recent US military action against Iran has added uncertainty to the Trump-Xi summit. Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) called the joint US-Israeli airstrikes and the
RSS