The US House of Representatives yesterday strongly endorsed efforts to secure Taiwan's participation in next year's meeting of the World Health Organization.
By a voice vote, the House approved a bill that would require the administration of US President George W. Bush to develop a plan to "endorse and obtain observer status" for Taiwan in the WHO's week-long annual meeting in Geneva in May next year.
The administration has already given its support to such an effort. Bush himself has said the administration "has focused on finding concrete ways for Taiwan to benefit and contribute to the WHO," the bill said.
The US president made the remarks in a letter last May to Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski, a firm supporter of Taiwan in the US Congress.
Bush also said that Washington "should find opportunities for Taiwan's voice to be heard in international organizations in order to make a contribution, even if membership is not possible."
The bill would update a law enacted in late May supporting Taiwan's participation in this year's Geneva meeting.
That bill, which was not introduced into the House until February, was passed too late for the US to secure Taiwan's participation in this year's WHO session.
Yesterday's House vote came three weeks after the House International Relations Committee approved the bill by a voice vote. It went to the House floor under a procedure that suspended House rules to speed the measure's passage.
It is expected that the vote will allow the bill to clear the Senate early enough to be effective. No companion bill has been introduced in the Senate yet.
Taiwan supporters praised the bill.
"Congress is asking the administration to fulfill President Bush's stated objective of letting Taiwan's voice be heard in the specific case of the WHO," said Wu Ming-chi, acting president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Washington-based lobbying group.
"We firmly support this Con-gressional call for a proactive position by the administration. With its development as a human rights-respecting, mature democracy, Taiwan deserves such support and the WHO will be all the stronger with Taiwan's participation," he said.
Two resolutions calling for Taiwan to be granted membership in the UN and other international organizations have also been introduced into the House, but the International Relations Committee has yet to act on them. They are sponsored by Colorado Representative Bob Schaffer.
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