Taiwan’s representative office in Geneva on Saturday said that it was grateful to countries that have shown support for the nation’s participation in WHO events, following a statement by China reiterating its long-held opposition to Taiwan’s involvement in international organizations without its consent.
The office issued a statement thanking foreign governments, members of the US Congress and friends for supporting Taiwan’s involvement with the WHO and its attendance at the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA), the decisionmaking body of the WHO.
It also rejected the statement from the Chinese mission to the UN, which repeated its position that Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, including the WHO, requires the consent of Beijing.
Photo: Reuters
The statement was released in the wake of a number of world powers, including the US and Japan, renewing their support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHA.
The WHA is to hold its 73rd session from May 17 to 21, although it might be held virtually due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The US has strongly backed Taiwan’s WHA bid, and in a teleconference between US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) last week, Azar said that Washington supported it.
China’s permanent mission to the UN on Saturday criticized the US-Taiwan teleconference.
“This is a serious breach of the one-China principle and the provisions of the Three Joint Communiques between the United States and China, as well as the one-China principle affirmed in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 and World Health Assembly Resolution 25.1,” it said in a statement. “By doing so, the US politicizes the epidemic prevention and sends a very wrong signal to secessionist forces in Taiwan, China. China firmly opposes it.”
In response, Taiwan’s office in Geneva said that the two resolutions “only deal with the issue of China’s representation and do not say Taiwan is a part of China,” and they do not settle the issue of Taiwan’s participation in the UN, nor do they authorize China to represent it in the UN.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday also issued a statement on the matter, saying that participation in the WHO is the hope of the vast majority of Taiwanese.
The KMT said that it hopes the statement by the Chinese mission does not represent Beijing’s final decision, and urged its decisionmakers not to overlook Taiwanese’s right to health because of political disagreements.
It also urged the Democratic Progressive Party administration to “try to face up to and deal with the crux of cross-strait relations” and to exhaust all “reasonable” and “legal” ways of seeking participation in or a return to the WHO.
Additional reporting by Sherry Hsiao
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