Taipei up to its tricks again with WHA farce

Uninvited guests from Taiwan are again staging the threeyear-old “Taiwan is being bullied” show in Geneva on the sidelines of the 72nd World Health Assembly, in a bid to help Taipei gain international recognition.

The island’s absence from the WHA meeting will harm public health and the well-being of its residents and create an epidemic prevention risk, they claim.

If, as they allege, Taiwan is indeed being excluded from the global public health regime and denied due access to the corresponding resources, it certainly would constitute a deplorable humanitarian problem with fearful potential.

Yet that is not the case. At the heart of the matter is the political standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. The stunt is a political farce in the guise of humanitarian concern.

To have a clear understanding of Taiwan’s bid for WHA representation, two basic facts must be made clear.

First and foremost, Taiwan does not have an inherent right to participate. As is true for the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and hence the WHA, is an institution whose membership is limited to sovereign countries, which Taiwan isn’t. UN Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1 recognize the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate representative of China.

Taiwan attended the WHA annual meetings from 2009 to 2016 as an observer. But that was under a special arrangement courtesy of Beijing, and before the current administration in Taipei refused to accept the historical and legal fact of the island being part of China.

It is not that the Chinese mainland “bullied” Taiwan and excluded it, but the independence-minded Tsai Ing-wen and her party ruined the arrangement with their refusal to accept the fact that Taiwan is not a sovereign country.

Second, Taiwan’s absence has in no way prevented the island from accessing WHO/WHA resources, and public health has not been compromised.

According to agreements between the Chinese government and the WHO, Taiwan public health and medical experts can participate in the professional/technical events the WHA convenes. When necessary, the WHO may dispatch personnel to Taiwan or offer assistance, while information about emergency public health incidents can flow smoothly between the island and the WHO.

According to the WHO, it invited experts from Taiwan to five WHOsponsored technical events last year, and four times this year. Besides, it is cooperating closely with local public health authorities under the framework of the 2005 International Health Regulations.

And the central government addresses the health issues of interest to Taiwan compatriots in a timely manner, including taking practical and effective measures for epidemics prevention and treatment.