Global dignitaries call for restoration of Taiwan’s observer status on eve of WHO annual meeting

The World Health Organization (WHO) will hold its 74th World Health Assembly on May 24, and the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition on China Policy (IPAC), a group of hundreds of parliamentarians from dozens of Western countries, released a video on Tuesday calling on the WHO to return to its pre-2016 practice of accepting Taiwan as an observer at the WHO The annual meeting.

The video includes French Senator André Gattolin, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Asia Pacific Panel Chairman Ami Bera (D-CA), U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, MEP Miriam Lexmann, former British Conservative MP Dozens of lawmakers from various countries, including Sir Iain Duncan Smith, and Kimberley Kitching, chairman of the Australian Senate Foreign Affairs Defense and Trade Committee, spoke in the video, praising Taiwan as a global model for fighting the epidemic. They also accused Beijing of excluding Taiwan from international organizations, only to “create a dangerous gap” in the world.

French Senator André Gadolin told the French broadcaster: “The demand for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO is a demand we have made repeatedly in recent years, because until 2016, Taiwan participated in the annual meetings of the WHO as an observer, and it was only after the DPP came to power in 2016 that Taiwan was expelled from a number of international organizations, including the WHO, under the pressure of Beijing. a series of international organizations, including the WHO, and we believe that Taiwan’s experience in fighting the epidemic is worthy of learning from countries today, given the premise that the global epidemic is so serious, and I would like to emphasize that the number of people who died from the virus in Taiwan’s population of 23 million is only 11. So Taiwan’s participation is crucial to enrich the experience of fighting the epidemic. “

The WHO replied that it is discussing the issue and will respond shortly.

In addition, André Gadolin also told the station that the French Senate’s Association for Friendship with Taiwan is preparing a bill calling for Taiwan’s membership in major international organizations, including the WHO, the International Air Organization and Interpol, and that the Senate will vote on the bill next Thursday, which he said is likely to serve as a reference for other countries to adopt the same bill.