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Analysis: Taiwan's WHO bid sowed confusion

The multiple strategies adopted by Taiwan this year in its bid for full WHO membership ended up blurring the focus of the nation, political commentators said yesterday.

Officials should reassess these strategies ahead of Taiwan's bid for UN membership in September, they said.

The nation's strategy this year was the brainchild of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who said that Taiwan needed to apply for full WHO membership under the name "Taiwan."

Parallel to this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said it would continue to push for "meaningful participation" in the WHO as well as membership under observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA).

The WHA last Monday turned down a motion which would have put Taiwan's bid for membership on the agenda.

"Although the outcome was expected, I don't think MOFA and the Department of Health were well-prepared for this year's bid," said Lo Chi-cheng (羅致政), political science professor at Soochow University.

"Taiwan proposed three things at once, which ended up confusing the international community, which didn't know what it was that Taiwan wanted," Lo said. "That is not a clear and effective strategy for negotiation."

Lo said Taiwan should adopt the strategy used by East Germany for its WHO application in 1968, in which it asked the WHA to skip the recognition issue that eventually led to full WHO membership in 1973.

Lo said that Taiwan had failed to highlight two problems it encountered this year. The first one was the WHO's mishandling of Chen's petition letter and the second was failing to fully comprehend the meaning of the secret memorandum of understanding (MOU) the WHO signed with Beijing to block Taiwan's participation in the world health body.

Lo was referring to the letter Chen wrote to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍) on April 11 to convey the nation's right to become a WHO member under the name "Taiwan."

The WHO secretariat, however, chose to ignore Chen's letter, arguing that "Taiwan is not a sovereign nation and is not qualified to apply for WHO membership."

In a TV interview, Chen said the WHO returned the letter to the nation's representative by slipping it through the crack in the door of his office in the middle of the night.

Lo said MOFA should have asked the nation's allies to file a motion in the WHA to discuss the WHO's handling of Chen's letter.

"This has nothing to with the sensitive issue of Taiwan's national status, but is related to due process at the organization itself," he said. "Taiwan should argue that it is not the WHO's remit to decide whether Taiwan is a sovereign country. Rather, it is the right of all countries to do so."

"Requesting a WHA investigation into whether a secret MOU exists between the health body and Beijing should also be a priority," Lo said.

"MOFA needs to thoroughly and honestly review its strategy for we are likely to use the same approach during the nation's bid at the UN in September," he said.

Wu Chih-chung (吳志中), the secretary-general of the EU Study Association, said that Taiwan must realize that there is no "international morality" but only "international reality and strength" in the diplomatic sphere.

That said, the international community cannot afford to wait for another outbreak of SARS to recognize the importance of Taiwan's participation at the WHO.
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