Taiwan has finally got something it has been trying to get for a long time — the right to take part in the World Health Assembly (WHA). Having achieved something the preceding Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government could not, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration announced the development with an air of triumph.
While this may be good news for the government, the opposition has raised a number of questions. Was observer status awarded to Taiwan because of a secret memorandum of understanding (MOU) between China and the WHO? What conditions did the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agree on in the course of their secret negotiations with the WHO? What exactly is Taiwan’s status in the WHA and in regard to the International Health Regulations (IHR)?
But the main concern for the DPP is this: Did Taiwan have to sacrifice its sovereignty to join the WHA?
The Ma team’s response has, of course, been “no.”
They say the important thing is to take part, and the negotiating process is nothing to be concerned about. The government claims the negotiations could not be made public because this is the “usual international practice.”
They assure us that Taiwan’s status in the WHA will be the same as other observers, who also receive invitations to the annual assemblies.
As Ma’s team combines conceit with an air of mystery, China is being intentionally low key, which only serves to fuel doubts in the DPP. But the misgivings of opposition politicians can be dispelled quite easily.
The WHA is attended by a number of observers every year. Contrary to what the Ma team claims, however, they do not all have the same status. In fact, their status differs considerably.
In the first category are governments with some level of sovereignty. The Holy See is a country but not a member country of the WHO. The Order of Malta was made a permanent observer by a resolution of the assembly, and it enjoys sovereign status.
The other kind of observer includes the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which are all NGOs. Then there is the Palestinian Authority, whose status falls somewhere between the two categories.
During emergencies such as the SARS and enterovirus outbreaks, the WHO got a lot of help from the US, whose Centers for Disease Control have greater resources than the WHO does. Taiwan’s healthcare system, like that in the US, is solidly established and well resourced. That being the case, Taiwan does not need much help in disease prevention.
So the main reason we want to attend the WHA and join the WHO is to promote the definition of Taiwan’s international status.
If Taiwan were to seek the same status as the Holy See, China would naturally intervene and block this from happening. On the other hand, joining as an NGO would negate Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Taking part under such conditions would be more damaging to our sovereignty than not participating. At the least, what Taiwan should strive for, as with the Palestinian Authority, is to be invited to take part by a resolution of the assembly, and not to be invited to attend as an NGO each year by the WHO director-general, whom China controls.
It would be worse still if Taiwan were listed not just as an NGO, but as a Chinese one.
Ma’s team has kept quiet about what Taiwan’s status will be, as well as about what went on during negotiations and whether Taiwan will be subservient to China in the IHR. Ma and his colleagues are attempting to justify this secrecy by reference to “international practice.”
The government should move quickly to dispel doubts about this “practice.” Negotiations held entirely in secret are only justifiable when two countries are talking about how to deal with a common enemy.
The KMT and the CCP are engaged in secret diplomacy and are keeping the process and core content to themselves. Who are they hiding it from? The US? Japan? The EU? Obviously not. The DPP? That would be getting closer.
The truth is that they are hiding it from the Taiwanese public.
Are the KMT and CCP really so wary about ordinary Taiwanese? If not, why would they be so cagey about how Taiwan has received access to the WHA and the IHR? It should be welcome news, so what is there to hide?
Ma and his colleagues hate it when anyone suggests that they might sell out Taiwan.
Dispelling such doubts and weakening the government’s detractors would be a simple task: All they have to do is clarify the following points.
1. Now that Taiwan can take part in the WHA and the IHR, there should be no need for a secret MOU between China and the WHO on helping Taiwan take part. Will the MOU now be disregarded?
2. Is Taiwan’s Department of Health, which is designated to deal with the IHR, listed as being under Chinese authority?
3. Is Taiwan’s status in the WHA that of an NGO? This would injure Taiwan’s sovereign status. Will the government therefore release the list of Taiwan’s participants?
It would not take much effort to clarify these details. In fact, it is the government’s duty to do so.
If, on the other hand, the government refuses to reveal the facts and continues to play games with public opinion, then it should not be surprised if people come to distrust and resent it.
If, as some people suspect, Ma’s team has paid for the right to attend the WHA by downgrading this nation’s sovereign status, then the consequences will be a lot worse than this.
Lin Cho-shui is a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS