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Taiwan dismisses WHO-China memo

China and the World Health Organization (WHO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) "facilitating" technical exchanges between Taiwan and the WHO on Saturday, but Taiwanese officials dismissed the agreement as "unacceptable."

It is understood that the Chinese delegation to the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's highest decision-making body, visited WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook and signed the MOU on Saturday afternoon.

Taiwan will launch its ninth bid for observer status in the WHA, which opens today and will run until May 25.

The WHO confirmed Taiwan is designated as "Taiwan, China" in the MOU, which regulates that Taiwan's technical exchanges with the WHO can only be arranged through Beijing.

Taiwanese officials working on the WHO bid in Geneva are trying to understand details of the MOU and evaluate how the agreement, signed only two days prior to the opening of the WHA, will affect Taiwan's application for observership.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it will never accept the MOU if the pact encroaches on Taiwan's sovereignty or denigrates its national status.

The WHO and China showed no respect for Taiwan in the manner they reached the agreement, said Peter Chang (張武修), director-general of the Department of Health's Bureau of International Cooperation.

"China has no power whatsoever over Taiwan's health matters," Chang said.

"China and the WHO Secretariat have been secretly working on the MOU. Many countries have no idea why they were doing that," he said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Feng-chih (朱鳳芝), in Geneva for Taiwan's health bid, said Beijing has disappointed her.

Chu, who traveled with KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) to China to arrange KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) Beijing trip, said Chinese officials displayed a lot of "goodwill" in supporting Taiwan's participation in the WHO during Lien's visit.

Beijing repeated its "goodwill" towards Taiwan's bid when People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) visited China, she said.

Several senior Chinese officials, including Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), chairman of China's People's Political Consultative Conference, promised the KMT delegation that Beijing's diplomats to discuss with WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook about how to let Taiwan participate in the health body, Chu said.

"But being here in Geneva, we see absolutely no sign of China's goodwill. Its promise to help Taiwan join the WHO is merely words. If China really cares about the Taiwanese people's health, it should show its concern through actions," the legislator said.

"What we see here is that China is blocking our WHO bid in all aspects. We feel very disappointed and find it hard to trust China," Chu said before a dinner with more than 80 leaders of overseas Taiwanese businessgroups, who gathered in Geneva to back Taiwan's bid for entrance into the WHO.

It would be difficult for Taiwan and China to reach peace if they lack mutual trust, Chu said.

"We Taiwanese are not fools. If China really cares about us, it should let us join the WHO as an observer right now," she said.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chuang Suo-han (莊碩漢) said in Geneva that many people thought Taiwan might have a better chance to enter the WHO after Lien and Soong's trips to China. "But the reality shows us this is not so," he said.

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MOU poses a threat to WHO bid, officials say

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