The Seoul Council of Médecins du Monde, hosted by Korea, was held from the 20th to the 23rd. (Photo credit: Médecins du Monde website)
The annual World Health Assembly (WHA) will be held in May, and the World Medical Association (WMA) Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution in support of Taiwan’s participation in the WHA and WHO, 22-1, on the 20th. The only person who voted against the resolution was the Chinese Communist Party representative who has been using political factors to block Taiwan’s participation. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it continues to approach friends and like-minded countries to support Taiwan’s participation as an observer.
This year’s Médecins du Monde, hosted by South Korea, will be held in Seoul from the 20th to the 23rd of this month, and the meeting will be conducted by video. The meeting will mainly discuss amendments to the resolution “Supporting Taiwan’s Participation in the WHA and WHO-related Mechanisms”, and Taiwan will have the chairman of the Taiwan Medical Association, DPP legislator Qiu Taiyuan and more than 10 representatives from Taiwan’s medical community in attendance.
According to a press release issued by the Taiwan Medical Association, the meeting began with a speech by Cheng Shao-yi, an associate professor at NTU Hospital, who explained Taiwan’s COVID-19 epidemic prevention strategy and the results of the association’s in-depth grassroots campaign to the delegates of various countries, while using empirical data to illustrate the obstacles and difficulties Taiwan faces in participating in WHO-related mechanisms.
In an interview with the media, Qiu Taiyuan said that during the meeting, the Chinese side spoke for more than 15 minutes against the resolution and emphasized that “Taiwan is part of China” and “China will take care of the health of Taiwanese people. After a heated debate between the two sides, the motion passed with a disparity of 22 votes in favor and 1 vote against. This shows that Taiwan’s quality medical care and epidemic prevention measures are highly recognized by medical groups in various countries.
According to Chiu Tai-Yuan, this result will provide a gateway for Taiwan to participate in any international medical and health organization in the future.
It is understood that this resolution was proposed by the Taiwan Medical Association and passed by the committee 13-1 in January of this year; in April, the council again passed by 22-1, and is expected to be finally voted on at the WMA General Assembly in October of this year. If the resolution is passed, the WMA will be able to send a formal letter to the WHO recommending that Taiwan become an observer.
As to whether or not to participate in the WHA this year, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director of International Organizations Wu Shangnian said that the WHA will be held from May 24 to June 1 this year in an all-visual format, and Taiwan has already begun work to promote participation in the WHA as an observer, and Taiwan’s embassies abroad are actively pleading with friends and countries with similar philosophies to speak up for Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that more and more high-ranking officials from countries are willing to show solidarity with Taiwan.
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