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WHO director's Taiwan remark comes under fire

"China cannot decide for us whether we are sovereign and neither can the WHO."

Winston Dang, director of the Democratic Progressive Party's department of international affairs

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan's (陳馮富珍) comment that all WHO member states uphold a "one China" policy was criticized by the pan-green camp yesterday.

CNN's Talk Asia ran an interview with Chan in Singapore last Friday in which she was asked for comments on Taiwan's recent WHO bid under the name "Taiwan."

"I am the administrative and technical chief of the organization. I implement policies of the organization and the policies are set by the member states," the former Hong Kong health minister said.

"Our 193 member states still hold on very strongly to the `one China' principle," she said.

"Health is an issue that China pays a lot of attention to, and I was reminded again and again under special circumstances that China would be very receptive for WHO to work with Taiwan directly," Chan said.

Her comments came after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)sent a letter to the Geneva-based WHO asking that Taiwan be admitted under the name of "Taiwan," rather than as a "health entity."

Winston Dang (陳重信), director of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) department of international affairs, dismissed Chan's comments as "illogical" and "purely in line with China's point of view."

He said Chan's remarks could "mislead the world's perception of Taiwan."

"Chan made two mistakes in the interview," said Dang, who has been pushing Taiwan's application for WHO membership.

"First, WHO has never had a policy or resolution supporting the `one China' principle," he said.

"Not all WHO members agree with the principle. At least our 24 allies do not. Only 39 out of the 169 member states which have diplomatic ties with China recognize the principle," he said, adding that Chan, as WHO's director-general, should not make casual comments on such a sensitive topic.

"China cannot decide for us whether we are sovereign and neither can the WHO," he said.

Showing the Taipei Times copies of an official US press release on the US' House of Representatives Concurrent Resolution 69 published in 2005, Dang said the US' "Six Assurances" to Taiwan in July 1982 by then US president Ronald Reagan also stipulated that "[t]he United States would not formally recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan."

Dang said Chan's comments were misleading because what China means by being receptive to WHO's direct cooperation with Taiwan only guarantees very limited participation for Taiwan.

"When meaningful participation [in WHO] is limited, it becomes meaningless," he said.

Chiang Yueh-chin (蔣月琴), Taiwan Solidarity Union spokeswoman, said the "one China" principle "has nothing to do with Taiwan" because "Taiwan is an independent state, but its title has not been clearly identified in the world."

Also see story:
Membership bid for the WHO is the correct way

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