The US Senate on Thursday passed a bill urging the US Department of State to develop a strategy to help Taiwan regain observer status at the WHO.
Introduced by US Senator Bob Menendez in March, the bill was approved by unanimous consent on the Senate floor, after it was approved by voice vote in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday last week.
The bill described Taiwan as a model contributor to world health, saying that it has contributed more than US$6 billion to international medical and humanitarian aid efforts in more than 80 countries since 1996.
Photo: Reuters
Taiwan donated millions of personal protective equipment items and COVID-19 tests to countries in need last year, it added.
“Diseases know no borders, and Taiwan’s needless exclusion from global health cooperation increases the dangers presented by global pandemics,” the bill said, citing Taiwan’s efforts to participate as an observer in WHO events since 1997.
With support from the US and like-minded countries, Taiwan held that status from 2009 to 2017, the bill said.
However, Taiwan has not been invited to participate in WHO events after the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) began facing increased resistance from Beijing on the international stage, it said.
If signed into law, the bill would direct US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to draft a strategy to include Taiwan in the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s highest decisionmaking body.
It would also require the secretary of state to report annually to the US Congress on the efforts.
The US House of Representatives passed a similar bill in March, and both chambers of Congress would have to agree on a unified version of the legislation before it could be signed into law by US President Joe Biden.
Bills on the inclusion of Taiwan in the WHO have been proposed to both chambers since 2017, without passing a vote until early this year.
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