Taiwan is recognized as a model student of COVID-19 epidemic prevention. This year, 1,786 parliamentarians from 89 countries expressed their support for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is an unprecedented scale of global support for Taiwan, but the World Health Organization (WHO) still yielded to Beijing’s pressure and refused to invite Taiwan back to the meeting, citing a violation of its so-called “one China” principle.
The World Health Organization (WHO) resumed, by video link, the 73rd WHO General Assembly, which was cut short in May due to the 2019 coronavirus disease outbreak, from September 9, but Taiwan has still not been invited to attend. In the face of China’s opposition, the proposal of 14 friendly countries to invite Taiwan to participate in the WHO General Assembly as an observer was not included in the agenda of the General Assembly. Taiwan has expressed its dissatisfaction regardless of the political situation.
In a Facebook post, Tsai Ing-wen listed and thanked global support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, including the U.S. Mission in Geneva, the Japan-Chinese Parliamentary Forum in the Japanese Diet, and 791 members of parliament from 17 Latin American countries, each in one form or another. A total of 644 parliamentarians and members of the European Parliament from 25 European countries, and 106 parliamentarians from 4 Central European countries and 3 Baltic countries signed a letter expressing their support for Taiwan’s participation in WHO and wrote to Director General of WHO Tan Desai. The Inter-Parliamentary Union on China Policy (IPAC), a group of 181 parliamentarians from 29 African countries, has issued a public statement calling for Taiwan’s participation in WHO.
Taiwan’s Rejection of Taiwan: Lost Opportunity for Global Unity Against Epidemic
If the WHO continues to reject Taiwan’s participation due to Beijing’s intervention, it will not only lose the opportunity for global unity in the fight against the epidemic, but also lose the WHO’s declared #HealthForAll philosophy. Taiwan will never give up every opportunity to prove that #TaiwanCanHelp!
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry: China falsely claims Taiwan is part of China, mobilizes Cuba, Pakistan to block it
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ouyang An expressed regret, condemnation and protest against the Beijing authorities’ pressure on WHO at a regular press conference on 10 October: “We regret to see that the Chinese government has mobilized Cuba and Pakistan, respectively, to speak out against it in the General Affairs Council by two to two, that is, China and Cuba, and also in the plenary, China and Pakistan, twice, and they have distorted the United Nations. The contents of Resolution 2758 and the related contents of WHA Resolution 25.1 falsely claim that the Chinese side has already made proper arrangements for Taiwan’s participation in health matters and that our country is part of the Chinese side. Related to the statement for the Chinese side, full of political rhetoric, blatant lies and no concrete basis, we express our solemn protest against the Chinese side’s obstruction .”
The government expressed its deep regret that the Chinese representative, at a time when the world is in the grip of the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic, continues to harp on the old tune of the “one-China principle,” ignoring the fact that the world should work together to prevent the epidemic, putting politics above health and safety, and violating the right to health of 23.5 million Taiwanese people.
Andrew Bremberg, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations in Geneva, released a three-minute video for the first time urging the WHO Secretary General to invite Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly as an observer, which is very encouraging to Taiwan, O’Connor said.
Ou also thanked four friendly countries for their strong advocacy on behalf of Taiwan at the WHA, including Nauru, Swatini, the Marshall Islands and Honduras, which represented Taiwan in the “two-on-two debate” with China in the General Affairs Council and the plenary session.
Despite Beijing’s suppression, global solidarity with “model epidemic prevention student” Taiwan advertises for Taiwan’s help
Taiwan has not only erected the typographic art advertisement “Taiwan Can Help” in Geneva, but the New York office has also placed advertisements in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and other media, with the slogan “Taiwan Can Help” as the main slogan, emphasizing that Taiwan is a model of democratic epidemic prevention and calling for support for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization (WHO).
The neo-coronary pneumonia epidemic has resulted in a cumulative total of more than 50 million cases diagnosed worldwide, killing more than 1.26 million people. Taiwan has been successful in preventing the epidemic, with a cumulative total of only 579 cases diagnosed and seven deaths as of 9 March, and has not implemented strict lockdown measures, and has assisted more than 80 countries around the world.
From 2009 to 2016, when cross-strait relations eased, the Ma Ying-jeou government participated in the WHO General Assembly as “Chinese Taipei” and as an observer. After Tsai Ing-wen took office in May 2016, Taiwan has not been invited for four consecutive years.
The United Nations Association of Taiwan (UNA) held a press conference on 10 October to protest the WHO’s renewed refusal to allow Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly on political grounds, with cross-party legislators, including the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Time Force Party (TFP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), attending.
Taiwan’s pro-democracy groups advocate joining forces with allies to form a separate WHO “without China”.
Taiwan is one of the best countries in the world in preventing epidemics, with no local cases for more than 200 days, but the WHO does not value this power because of China’s intervention and uses politics over professionalism and epidemic prevention.
Dr. Kang Kuan-yu of the Global Taiwan Medical Association (GTMA) said that Taiwan’s experience in epidemic prevention has been internationally recognized, and there is growing support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, with civil society groups playing an active role in seeking more friendly forces to support Taiwan in the WHO.
China: WHO’s rejection of Taiwan’s invitation to attend fully demonstrates that one-China is an international standard
Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese mainland, said that the decision taken at the resumed seventy-third session of the WHO General Assembly not to include the Taiwan-related proposals on the agenda of the Assembly fully demonstrates that the one-China principle is the general consensus of the international community and an international norm, and that the “two Chinas” and “one China, one Taiwan” are unpopular and bound to fail in the international arena.
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