The US House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday approved a bipartisan bill that seeks to mandate US assistance to Taiwan in its bid to regain observer status in the WHO.
The bill, introduced by Democratic Representative Brad Sherman and Republican Representative Young Kim on Feb. 18, won unanimous support in an oral voting session.
According to the draft, the US secretary of state would be required to develop a strategy to help Taiwan return to the WHO as an observer.
In the event the efforts do not succeed at the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO’s policymaking body, the US secretary of state will be asked to revise and improve the strategy, it says.
At Thursday’s hearing, ranking committee member Michael McCaul said that Taiwan had alerted the Chinese Communist Party and the WHO that COVID-19 was transmittable between humans, but the warning went unheeded.
Now “we’re in the situation we’re in,” McCaul said.
US Representative Albio Sires, who cochairs the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, said that Taiwan is a leader in global health, as evidenced by its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He expressed gratitude for Taiwan’s friendship, which he said was manifested in the early days of the pandemic when his home state of New Jersey was hard hit.
When personal protective equipment was scarce, Taiwan was sending regular shipments of masks to the US, Sires said.
“By regaining observer status in the WHO, Taiwan will help other nations that are struggling with this pandemic,” he said.
Since 1996, Taiwan has spent more than US$6 billion on international medical and humanitarian aid to more than 80 countries, Sherman said.
However, because of the Chinese Communist Party, Taiwan was excluded from the WHO in 2017, he added.
“This is outrageous as it shuts out Taiwan from important WHO information, and makes it more difficult for Taiwan to share the information it has on its successful handling of the virus,” he said.
Taiwan began seeking observer status in the WHA in 1997 and was admitted from 2009 to 2016, after which its status was revoked due to pressure from China, which does not favor President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Over the past two years, bills aimed at helping to restore Taiwan’s observer status in the WHA have been proposed in the US House and Senate, but have been shelved.
With the Foreign Affairs Committee’s approval of the latest proposal, it will now proceed to a plenary session for review.
It has to be passed by the House and Senate, and signed by the US president before it can become law.
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