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China should let Taiwan join the WHA, expert says

"[Beijing] should acquiesce this year in Taiwan's application for WHA observer status."

Alan Romberg, think tank member

Beijing should acquiesce in Taiwan's bid for World Health Assembly (WHA) observer status as a means to mend the new rift in cross-strait relations caused by China's recent enactment of its "Anti-Secession" Law, a think-tank China expert said Tuesday.

Alan Romberg, senior associate and director of the East Asian Program of the Henry Stimson Center, said Tuesday that the new law, which authorizes the use of "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan, has hurt the feelings of the Taiwanese people.

If Beijing wants to mend its fences with Taiwan, it should give up its obstruction of Taiwan's bid to enter the WHA, the decision making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), as an observer, Romberg said.

Romberg said "the orderly and upbeat nature of the demonstration on May 26 in Taipei reinforced the impression that the government has sought to make clear that the Anti-Secession Law is unacceptable in principle and to give Taiwan's citizens a way to express their displeasure, and that the government has no desire to do anything to raise cross-strait tensions."

Romberg, who once served as US State Department deputy spokesman, said that "one hopes that the next steps will be efforts from both sides to resume progress on charter flights and perhaps even to find a way to negotiate the `three direct links.'"

"If Beijing wants to make a positive impression on Taiwan's people, it should acquiesce this year in Taiwan's application for WHA observer status," Romberg said.
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