US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Nerissa Cook departed Taiwan yesterday after a visit to promote bilateral exchanges on economic and developmental issues.
Cook arrived on Wednesday and attended meetings to advance US cooperation with Taiwan and other partners in the areas, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement.
In a separate statement on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed Cook’s visit, saying she conducted exchanges with authorities regarding global issues that concern mutual interests “to improve mutual understanding and cooperation, and once again highlight the close friendship between Taiwan and the US.”
Photo: AP
Her previous visit to Taiwan was in March 2016.
Cook’s visit this week came against the backdrop of Taiwan once again facing the prospect of not being invited to the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) due to China’s obstruction.
The WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, is to hold its 71st session from May 20 to 28 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Taipei has not received an invitation to the WHA for the past two years and is unlikely to receive one this year.
The WHO, when asked if Taiwan would be invited, said an “understanding” between Taipei and Beijing was a prerequisite for the nation to attend the meeting, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported this month.
In the wake of the report, the AIT, which represents US interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties, reiterated the US’ support for Taipei to join the WHA.
From 2009 to 2016, Taiwan participated in the WHA as an observer using the name “Chinese Taipei” with the backing of Washington and amid better relations with China during the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.
However, since then, China has persuaded the WHO not to invite Taiwan, in line with Beijing’s stance on cross-strait relations after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party took office in May 2016.
Tsai has refused to accept China’s condition for continuing good relations: that she acknowledge the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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