Taiwan has had more difficulty participating in WHO events this year despite claims by China that it welcomes the nation's participation in the international organization, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.
China signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the WHO last year, claiming that Taiwan would have "meaningful participation" in all kinds of technical meetings held by the organization.
However, John Chen (陳忠), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of International Organizations, said yesterday it is obvious that through its obstruction, China has been blocking the nation's participation in conferences or workshops held by the WHO.
Chen said Taiwan this year had applied to attend six different WHO conferences held in Switzerland, Indonesia, Italy and Thailand, but only two of them had accepted the nation's applications.
Even the two host-countries that accepted applications -- one in Milan and the other in Bangkok -- did not get back to Taiwan's applicants until four to six days before the meetings started, leaving Taiwanese delegates short of time to get prepared.
"We think China's signing of the MOU with the WHO was designed to create a false impression that it was willing to change its attitudes towards Taiwan," he said.
"But the truth is that China never stops suppressing Taiwan's activities in the WHO," he said.
Chen said he was worried the WHO's upcoming director-general, Margaret Chan (
Taiwan's WHO troubles come in the wake of a research report which stated that China had tried to cover up the extent of its bird flu problem.
The research said the H5N1 virus from Fujian Province was the source of the avian influenza outbreak in Southeast Asia.
"This case shows that China does not only neglect the health rights of Taiwanese but is also a black hole in international epidemic prevention efforts," Chen said.
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