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US official might argue for WHO observer status

"We only need one member to apply for our inclusion. We already have 12 members doing so."

Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, speaking on condition on anonymity

US Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson may speak next week in support of Taiwan's bid to enter the World Health Organization (WHO) when the UN body holds its annual summit in Geneva, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

The official, who spoke on condition on anonymity, said: "The ministry has expressed hope to the US that Mr. Thompson will speak on behalf of Taiwan's bid during the World Health Assembly (WHA)."

The text of the secretary's speech to the assembly is yet to be finalized, according to the official.

Thompson, who will be leading the US delegation to the Geneva summit, spoke briefly for Taiwan last year after the assembly rejected Taiwan's application for WHO observer status.

US support is seen as vital for the health bid. The government hopes that a US proposal to add Taiwan's bid to the meeting's agenda would boost the visibility of the application.

Nevertheless, the US, to avoid direct clashes with China, which strongly opposes Taiwan's application, may put limits on its backing of Taiwan, said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Bill Sun (孫國華), who left for Geneva last night.

So far, 12 of Taiwan's allies have submitted proposals to the WHO to include the application for observer status on the WHA agenda. The assembly's General Committee must discuss proposals that are brought up by any member state.

Asked whether the US would also submit a proposal, the ministry official said: "We only need one member to apply for our inclusion. We already have 12 members doing so."

Some Chinese-language media outlets have reported that the 25 members of the EU will all vote against the application. Ministry officials would not confirm those reports, saying that a variety of factors may affect the results of the application.

Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), the Department of Health's director-general, who recently completed visits to the Czech Republic and Germany and arrived in Geneva Thursday, said that Taiwan still wishes to see a vote on the application come about despite a lack of EU support.

Chen and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) have been lobbying EU states for their support. Chen said he will meet with Kau in Geneva to decide whether to push for a vote.

Chen predicted that the vote this year will be closer than the vote in 1997, when Taiwan first appealed for observer status.

Meanwhile, Yang Huang Maysing (楊黃美幸), chairwoman of the ministry's Research and Planning Board, yesterday published a public opinion survey showing that 89. 4 percent of Taiwanese people support the effort to join the WHO.

According to the poll, 78.1 percent of the interviewees say that participating in the WHO would help Taiwan's international standing, while 76.3 percent are concerned that the recent outbreak of SARS in China could spread to Taiwan.

A total of 81.3 percent of respondents feel that China's opposition to the WHO application is unreasonable and 86.4 percent say that if Taiwan cannot join the WHO this year due to opposition from China, the government should try again next year.
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