A bill urging the Bush administration to push for Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization is expected to be approved by the House International Relations Committee this coming week, congressional staffers say.
The bill, introduced last month by Ohio Representative Sherrod Brown, urges the Secretary of State to devise a plan to "endorse and obtain" Taiwan's status as an observer at the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly, which will be held in Geneva in May. It has 59 co-sponsors.
Committee Chairman Henry Hyde is said to be anxious to get the bill approved and sent to the House floor. The committee has scheduled a meeting next Wednesday, and the bill may be "marked-up" or approved, at that time.
It is not known when the bill will be introduced in the Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not yet scheduled a meeting to vote on the bill.
However, nearly a third of the membership of the Senate sent Bush a letter this week on the issue, urging him to "take appropriate steps" to secure Taiwan's participation in the assembly.
The letter, whose text was released Friday, says, "The primary objective of the WHO, after all, is `the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.' It is our concern that until the US is willing to stand up and take the lead on this important issue, `all peoples,' at least as the WHO defines it, will continue to exclude the people of Taiwan.
"Only through the US' leadership can we ensure that no people are left behind in the pursuit of the highest standards of health because of the political limitations of international organizations of which the US is a party."
During a hearing before the House International Relations Committee last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Taiwan's participation, saying "there should be ways for Taiwan to enjoy the full benefits of participation without being a member." However, in response to a questions by Brown, Powell said that the administration has still not conducted a review of the Clinton administration's policy on the issue, and he stopped short of pledging to actively push for Taiwan's observer status at the Geneva meeting.
For the past few years, both the House and Senate have passed resolutions calling for Taiwan to take part in the WHO and other international organizations that require statehood for membership.
In 1994, the Clinton administration, in an overall review of US policy toward Taiwan, pledged to support Taiwan's membership in international organizations that accept non-states as members. That policy does not extend to organizations that limits membership to nations.
In their letter to Bush, the Senators conceded that point, but said that the policy should not bar all forms of participation in state-only organizations.
"While we fully recognize and understand the importance of sovereignty and statehood concerns as they relate to participation in international organizations, we believe that such concerns should not be used to deny the 23 million people of Taiwan access to the highest possible international health standards and practices, the letter, dated Wednesday, says.
The letter was signed by 31 Senators, both Republican and Democratic, including such heavy-hitters as Majority Leader Trent Lott, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms and Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner.
Taiwan supporters were cheered by the letter. "The time is now for the Bush administration to prove it will pursue a fresh policy toward Democratic Taiwan," said Chen Wen-yen (陳文彥), president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs. "We see WHO observer status as a good first step toward giving Taiwan the international presence it so richly deserves."
Taiwan has made "great progress" in promoting public health, said Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski, who spearheaded the letter and released its contents. However, he noted, "the outbreak [in 1998] of enterovirus 71 that killed 70 children and infected more than 1,100 more in Taiwan shows that island needs access to the services of the WHO."
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