After Taiwan was once again unable to participate in this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), a Taiwanese diplomat said that the WHO secretariat needed China’s approval to invite Taiwan to participate, and that the WHO had become a “gate-keeper” (gate-keeper) that blocked Taiwan’s participation in the WHO and WHO activities for China, which This is not the kind of sound global governance the world would like to see, especially as the new epidemic heats up and Taiwan’s health experts’ participation becomes more urgent and important.
On Wednesday (May 26), during a video discussion at the German Marshall Fund on how the U.S. and Europe can assist Taiwan in expanding its participation in international organizations, both U.S. and EU officials in Taiwan expressed their support for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly as an observer, and also mentioned the unprecedented public statement made by the G7 on this issue this year, showing that Taiwan’s participation can make a Taiwan’s participation can make a useful contribution to global public health issues.
Although Taiwan was not invited to the WHO this year, Bonnie Glaser, director of the Marshall Fund’s Asia Program, asked how the United States and the European Union can seize momentum in the G7’s voice of support for Taiwan. What steps can like-minded countries take to advance Taiwan’s restoration of observer status at the WHO?
U.S. disappointed Taiwan failed to participate
In response, Jennifer Hendrixson White, senior policy adviser at the U.S. Representative Office to the United Nations, said she could not make public details about diplomatic efforts in this regard, but that the United States was disappointed that Taiwan could not participate in the ongoing WHO conference, and that she believed it was important that the United States and other like-minded countries ” From the highest levels of the United Nations system,” continued to express concern about the issue, and also urged the World Health Organization to take an inclusive approach in addressing disease prevention and control and other global health issues.
She said the U.S. also sees an opportunity to encourage its allies to be more creative in expanding cooperation with Taiwan because Taiwan is a generous, credible partner with expertise in global public health issues, and the U.S. has benefited from its own cooperation with Taiwan over the years. cooperation.
The Director of the European Economic and Trade Office, Filip Grzegorzewski, also said that the EU fully supports Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization and the World Health Assembly because the international community can benefit from all partners, including Taiwan, and that the EU will continue to cooperate with Taiwan on global issues and take a pragmatic approach to Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. The EU is one of the promoters of this global sharing platform for vaccines and he is pleased that now Taiwan can also benefit from this mechanism.
EU develops ties with Taiwan under One-China policy
Although diplomatically it recognizes China as the sole legitimate government, Taiwan is an important European partner with similar ideas, sharing values such as democracy, rule of law, human rights and international order, and facing the same challenges on issues such as climate change, cyber security and maritime security. Taiwan is very important to Europe in terms of economic relations, which is why the EU will continue to deepen discussions and exchanges with Taiwan on various issues.
During the meeting, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry Director General Secretary Li-Wen Hsu expressed her gratitude to the United States, the G7 and the EU for their public statements of strong support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, but she was unhappy that Taiwan was once again not invited to the 74th Health Assembly in Geneva this week, criticizing not only the WHO for being manipulated by China to block Taiwan’s participation, but also the UN legal department and other organization secretariats for It is “sad” that the UN legal department and the secretariats of other organizations are “subservient to China’s political position” and have misinterpreted UN Resolution 2758.
Taiwan must participate in global public health discussions in a pandemic
Hsu Li-Wen, who was formerly director of the Department of International Organizations at Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the WHO Conference is the decision-making body of the WHO that sets the agenda and provides a key platform for strengthening international cooperation and advancing global health issues, especially the fight against this year’s pandemic, and that “without observer status, Taiwan cannot participate in discussions and research on the best way to fight this disease, nor can Taiwan communicate with other Taiwan is also unable to share ideas with other countries on how to better recover from the pandemic.”
Especially in the current global pandemic, Hsu said it has become very important for Taiwan’s health experts to participate in the many discussions on technical topics at the WHO, but are now allowed to participate in only a very limited number of technical sessions, which cannot meet Taiwan’s current urgent needs.
She said that given the one-China policy of the European Union and many countries, there is a certain sensitivity to Taiwan’s international participation, so Taiwan is seeking “substantive and professional” participation, and participation in the WHO Assembly is also required as an observer rather than a full member. The current procedures of the WHO secretariat for Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities are based on a secret memorandum signed between the organization and China in 2005, creating obstacles for Taiwan’s participation.
China dominates the rules of the game
“It sets unreasonable restrictions that result in a lengthy process for Taiwan’s technical participation. It requires the secretariat to seek China’s approval to send an invitation letter to Taiwan. So with China dominating the rules of the game, it’s hard for our participation to be meaningful. And that’s not the kind of sound global governance we all want to see.”
The consequence of the technical difficulties Taiwan faces is that Taiwan’s technical experts have access only to the WHO’s legal department and not directly to the technical department, and there are many “gatekeepers” at the WHO, so to speak, Xu said.
“The WHO secretariat is not only not a helper, they are a gatekeeper. So we need to work harder with like-minded countries to urge the organization to remain apolitical, inclusive and professional. The participation of our health experts should be considered on their own terms, not politicized.”
Regarding Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly and other WHO and international organization activities, the Chinese government has repeatedly stressed that it must be handled on the basis of the one-China principle, stating that this principle was confirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971.
Interpretation of UN Resolution 2758
In response to a question from the Voice of America on the interpretation of UN Resolution 2758, Xu Liwen said that Taiwan’s position is that UN Resolution 2758 of 1971 “only deals with the issue of China’s representation and does not address Taiwan or Taiwan’s international status, let alone conclude that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China, absolutely not There is absolutely no such conclusion.”
The 1971 resolution 2758 only addresses the question of China’s representation, it makes no reference to Taiwan, nor does it allude to Taiwan’s international status. Moreover, it does not conclude that Taiwan is a part of the PRC. Absolutely not.
But Xu said Taiwan’s international participation has been politicized over the years by China’s “inappropriate and erroneous interpretation” of the resolution, and that “it is sad that the legal department of the United Nations and the secretariats of other organizations have deferred to China’s political position and, as a result, have not recognized the validity of Taiwan’s government-issued passport validity.”
In addition to reiterating China’s consistent position on Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on Monday that China’s decision not to agree to Taiwan’s participation in this year’s WHO “has been widely supported and understood by the international community,” and that as of Sunday, more than 150 countries and 80 member states “specifically wrote to the WHO to state their position of adhering to the one-China principle and opposing Taiwan’s participation in the WHO Conference.”
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