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Mixed reaction to WHA observer status

The news that Taiwan will finally participate at the WHO, albeit only as an “observer,” received a mixed reaction in the US, with praise from the Obama administration and condemnation from the Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA).

A State Department spokesman said the US “welcomed” the development and looked forward to Taiwan’s participation and the “benefits Taiwan’s public health expertise will bring to the international community.”

The Washington Post said it was important because “it means that big war between China and the US that so many people have worried about for so long is looking less and less likely.”

The Post’s foreign affairs writers were delighted at what they saw as China’s positive reaction to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policies.

Former congressman Thomas Tancredo — a longtime friend of Taiwan — was not quite so sure.

“We should all celebrate,” he said, but added: “Tragically, Taiwan continues to be treated as a global pariah by much of the world, thanks in no small part to a relentless and decades-long international campaign of intimidation by the People’s Republic of China — a campaign that essentially remains in high-gear, notwithstanding this week’s incremental progress.”

The strongest reaction came from FAPA.

FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) said: “Taiwan’s international status has taken another step backward. We have been working for Taiwan’s membership in the World Health Organization for more than a decade. It is the right of Taiwan as a free and democratic country to have truly meaningful participation in this important international health organization. That can only be done if Taiwan is a full and equal member.”

“Just attending the WHA [World Health Assembly] — and under the subservient moniker ‘Chinese Taipei’ — doesn’t protect the health of the people of Taiwan,” Yang said. “For that, doctors need to have unfettered access to specialist meetings and information exchange.”

Yang added that the conditions under which Ma’s government had accepted observer status were demeaning to Taiwanese and undermined the nation’s sovereignty.

He said he was concerned about any “under-the-table deals made by the Ma administration with China on the matter.”

He urged the legislature and the public to demand full transparency.

“Only then will we be able to say that Taiwanese sovereignty and interests have not been sold out,” Yang said.
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