At least 25 nations will voice their support for Taiwan’s participation at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
Department of International Organizations Director-General Michael Hsu (徐佩勇) told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee that at least 25 diplomatic allies and countries that share the same values as Taiwan would speak out for the nation’s participation as an observer at this year’s WHA, which opens on Monday.
The number of countries could exceed 25, Hsu said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Sixteen diplomatic partners have written a joint letter to the WHO asking that their proposal to “have Taiwan participate as an observer at this year’s WHA be included in the 2018 agenda of the WHA, a ministry official familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Taiwan launched its efforts to join the global healthcare body in 1997, but did not get invited to attend the WHA as an observer until 2009, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was in office. The nation did not receive an invite last year and this year.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) asked what the nation’s three Latin American allies had done to help Taiwan’s WHA bid.
Hsu said Honduras had written to the WHO and El Salvador had endorsed the proposal, while Guatemala would voice its support for Taiwan at the WHA.
Honduras and El Salvador have not spoken for Taiwan at the UN for four years in a row, while Guatemala has not done so for three, Wang said.
The ministry is monitoring the issue, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said, adding that many developed nations would speak out for Taiwan’s presence at the WHA this year.
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