US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday urged the WHO to invite Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, saying that China’s objections are to blame for Taiwan’s exclusion from the organization.
Blinken’s remarks came after the French Senate on Thursday passed a resolution 304-0 backing Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, including the WHO, and after the G7 foreign ministers backed Taiwan’s WHA bid in a joint communique on Wednesday.
The 74th WHA is to take place virtually from May 24 to June 1. Taiwan participated as an observer from 2009 to 2016, but has since been denied entry.
Photo: AFP
“Unless the organization’s leadership takes appropriate action, the assembly will once again exclude the vital participation of Taiwan,” Blinken said.
“There is no reasonable justification for Taiwan’s continued exclusion from this forum, and the United States calls upon the WHO director-general to invite Taiwan to participate as an observer at the WHA — as it has in previous years, prior to objections registered by the government of the People’s Republic of China,” he said.
“WHO leadership and all responsible nations should recognize that excluding the interests of 24 million people at the WHA serves only to imperil, not advance, our shared global health objectives,” he added.
“Taiwan is a reliable partner, a vibrant democracy and a force for good in the world, and its exclusion from the WHA would be detrimental to our collective international efforts to get the pandemic under control and prevent future health crises,” he said.
“We urge Taiwan’s immediate invitation to the World Health Assembly,” Blinken said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked Blinken for repeatedly voicing support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHA.
The US has never ceased in its support for Taiwan’s WHA bid, with its support stronger this year than ever, the ministry said in a statement, adding that Washington has been a bellwether in leading other countries to voice support for Taiwan.
The nation welcomes more countries to work with Taiwan to “go beyond politics” and protect universal health, it said.
Taiwan has been striving to join international organizations related to healthcare and medicine, but encountered irrational obstacles and pressure from China, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said separately.
The nation thanks the US, France and other major powers for supporting it and affirming its achievements in healthcare, Lo said, adding that it would continue to deepen relations with like-minded countries.
Separately, the leaders of Taiwan’s three Caribbean allies also urged the WHO to allow Taiwan’s participation in the WHA. They made the calls through pre-recorded videos provided by their embassies in Taiwan.
“It makes absolutely no sense to exclude Taiwan” from the WHA, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves said, adding that excluding the nation would “limit the effectiveness of that assembly and the operations of the World Health Organization.”
“Leave the politics out, this is about health,” he said.
Saint Kitts and Nevis Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Brantley said that Taiwan should be included in the WHA so that it can play a role in international affairs.
“Taiwan has demonstrated throughout this COVID-19 pandemic that it is a global leader,” Brantley said, adding that Taiwan has “set global standards in handling this pandemic.”
“Taiwan has proved itself to be a successful model in the global fight against the pandemic, not just by successful management of the spread, but also by helping other countries, including my country Saint Lucia, to combat the outbreak,” Saint Lucia Minister of Health Mary Isaac said, adding that it is time to “let Taiwan help.”
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang and CNA
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
RSS