The World Health Organization (WHO) will soon hold the World Health Assembly (WHA) on the 24th, and even though the G7 and the United States support Taiwan’s participation, Taiwan has not yet been invited. The Wall Street Journal published an editorial on the 10th saying that whether Taiwan can attend the WHA is the first major test for the Biden administration, and if Taiwan cannot participate, “this is a big loss for the global health system and will make the Biden administration very embarrassed.”
The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial on the 10th, “Taiwan and the WHO-China wants the island nation excluded despite its Covidenza success.” (Taiwan and the WHO-China wants the island nation excluded despite its Covid successes), mentioned that for the Biden administration, which brought the United States back into the WHO, Taiwan’s ability to attend the WHA is the first major test of U.S. influence and reform power over the WHO.
The 74th WHA will be held on the 24th, but the WHO did not issue an invitation to Taiwan until 5 p.m. on the 10th, the fifth consecutive year since 2017. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on the 7th that there is no reason to continue to exclude Taiwan from the WHA; the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries also issued a communiqué indicating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the WHO forum and the WHA.
The article points out that Taiwan currently has only 12 deaths from the new crown pneumonia, and last year set a record of eight months without a local case, figures that are the envy of the world, “but mainland China, which covets Taiwan’s democracy, wants to make it impossible for Taiwan to be recognized internationally.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin even called the G7’s statement in support of Taiwan “a gross interference in China’s sovereignty” and “a wanton destruction of the norms of international relations.
The article concludes by saying that if Taiwan is unable to attend the WHA, “it would be a great loss to the global health system and an embarrassment to the Biden administration.” It also stresses that Americans should question whose interests are served by the huge contributions to the WHO.
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