Fri, May 15, 2020 page1

• Virus Outbreak: Allies urge Taiwan’s inclusion in WHA

  ‘WIND IS BLOWING’: European lawmakers have called on their health ministers to request the World Health Assembly let Taiwan’s Chen Shih-chung participate

  • By Lu Yi-hsuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Taiwan has not received an invitation to the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is to be held virtually from Monday next week, and all of the nation’s diplomatic allies, except the Vatican, have tendered proposals to the WHO backing Taiwan’s bid for participation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

  In the past, some of the nation’s allies chose not to make formal appeals and instead made remarks at the decisionmaking body of the WHO, but this year those that could make proposals to back Taiwan’s WHA bid have all done so, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing in Taipei, describing the development as a “home run.”

  The Vatican, which is only an observer at the WHA, would voice its support for Taiwan through other methods, the ministry said.

  

  A combination photograph shows letters on the WHO’s Web site from some of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies requesting that the WHO consider inviting Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly on Monday next week.

  Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times

  In a letter addressed to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and signed by Saint Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines said that Taiwan from 2009 to 2016 had been invited to the WHA, and has had meaningful and ongoing interactions with the WHO.

  “Since the election of the Democratic [Progressive] Party’s Tsai Ing-wen [蔡英文] to the presidency of Taiwan, the government of the People’s Republic of China has opposed the continuation of Taiwan’s observer-participant status at the WHA,” the letter said.

  “If ever there is a time in which Taiwan deserves to be a part of the WHA as an observer, it is now, at the time of COVID-19... But locking out Taiwan from any participation at the WHA diminishes this august assembly and the peoples of the world who can benefit even more from Taiwan’s expertise, professionalism and generosity,” it added.

  

  Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi speaks at a meeting in an undated photograph.

  Photo: AFP

  On Wednesday, 102 members of the European Parliament and four German lawmakers issued an open letter to the health ministers of the EU’s 27 member states calling for Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to be included in the virtual WHA, the ministry said.

  The novel coronavirus “will dominate” the WHA, the open letter said.

  “As the virus knows no borders, nationalities and ideologies, the world needs to share all available information and expertise that can be helpful to combat the [COVID-19] pandemic,” it said.

  “That is why we, the undersigned members of the European and national parliaments, urge you to insist that the World Health Organization returns to the pragmatic protocol — practiced from 2009 to 2016 — of inviting Taiwan as an observer to this meeting format,” it added.

  Citing the stance of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for a return to the format, the open letter urged the European health ministers to insist that Taiwan be invited as an observer, as the nation has “successfully managed to curb the spread of the virus, in spite of Taiwan’s geographic proximity to the virus origin.”

  Separately on Wednesday, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said that Taiwan was excluded from the WHA due to Beijing’s influence.

  Japan would do its utmost to back Taiwan’s bid to join the WHA, Motegi said when answering questions in a session of the Japanese House of Representatives.

  The US, Canada and Australia have also expressed support for Taiwan’s WHA bid by various means.

  “Australia supports Taiwan’s involvement in the World Health Organization’s work and Taiwan’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly. There has never been a better time, nor a greater need, to work with all relevant partners to beat COVID-19 and respond to global health issues,” the Australian Office in Taipei wrote on Facebook.

  While Taiwan’s bid might not succeed, many people are helping Taiwan and “the wind is blowing,” Chen said yesterday at the Central Epidemic Command Center’s daily news briefing.

  Even if it is blocked from the assembly, the nation would still join certain meetings on the sidelines, as in previous years, Chen said, adding that he could not share details about any of the meetings.

  Additional reporting by CNA
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