Taiwan has been lobbying to attend this month’s meeting of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) decision-making body, the World Health Assembly (WHA), as an observer. However, government and diplomatic sources say that China will block the move.
On Monday, Steven Solomon, the WHO’s principal legal officer, reaffirmed that the WHO recognised the People’s Republic of China as the “one legitimate representative of China”, in keeping with UN policy since 1971. Solomon added that the question of Taiwan’s attendance was one for the WHO’s 194 member states to answer as the WHO has “no mandate” to invite Taiwan.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims that Taiwan is a province of China, not an independent state. It says that only the PRC has the right to represent all of China in the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations, including the WHO, that limit membership to states.
Taiwan is seen as one of the few places in the world that have successfully stemmed the spread of the coronavirus without resorting to draconian measures. As of April 9, Taiwan had 380 confirmed cases and 5 deaths, a stunningly low number for a population of 23.6 million. This is particularly impressive given the high level of travel between China and Taiwan.
Taiwan’s success can be attributed to early preparedness, health expertise, government competence, and popular alertness. On December 31, Taiwan’s government, alarmed by developments in Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, expressed concerns to the WHO about the potential for human-to-human transmission. However, it received no reply. Instead, the WHO endorsed China’s denial of human-to-human transmission until January 21. While the WHO appeared to downplay the global threat, Taiwan adopted vigorous screening, testing, contact tracing, and quarantine measures.
Taiwan’s success was also driven in large part by its transparency. Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center, established after the SARS outbreak in 2002, releases daily briefings. In contrast, China’s response was characterized by initial cover-ups of the outbreak and its continued suppression of independent reporting.
Despite Taiwan’s valuable input, the WHO continues to shun it. For example, when asked by a journalist about Taiwan’s exclusion and experience dealing with the pandemic during a recent interview, WHO senior advisor Bruce Aylward hung up the call after trying to avoid the questions. After this public relations disaster, the WHO claimed it was closely working with Taiwanese experts, which Taiwan’s government refuted. Taiwan has continually shared coronavirus data with the WHO, but the WHO has never released this information to its members.
Beijing has threatened military force to bring Taiwan under its control and has been courting its handful of remaining diplomatic allies to isolate it internationally. That has drawn a strong response from Washington, with whom Taiwan shares strong but unofficial ties and which is its main guarantor of security.
To change things on this front, on Monday, the United States Senate passed a bill that asks Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to come up with a strategy to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) to be held later this month. Further, last week, New Zealand’s finance and foreign ministers also backed a role for Taiwan at the WHO.
China hit back by saying that the country should “stop making wrong statements” on the issue to avoid damaging bilateral ties. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said New Zealand’s comments were a severe violation of the “one China” principle. He further stated that China “deplores and opposes” New Zealand’s position, and that “no one should entertain any illusion when it comes to matters concerning China’s core interests”. “We hope that certain people in New Zealand will stop spreading rumours and creating trouble and work to enhance instead of undermining bilateral mutual trust and cooperation,” Zhao said.
If this wasn’t enough, Ji Rong, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, told Indian media to accept the One China principle after India’s largest-selling English daily–the Times of India– suggested that India should not shy away from supporting Taiwan’s participation in the upcoming meeting.
Ties between neighbouring Australia and China have also frayed in recent months after Canberra called for an international investigation into the origins and spread of the coronavirus. Canada, too, approved a verbal demarche to two senior WHO executives during a meeting Thursday that urged them to allow Taiwan to be admitted as an observer in an upcoming meeting because its input would be “meaningful and important.” Candian Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said that Ottawa “supports Taiwan’s role as a non-state observer in the World Health Assembly meetings is in the interest of the international health community and is important to the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Thus, while China has successfully blocked Taiwan’s entry to the WHA as an observer, it appears that it is quickly losing allies across the globe, with many countries either overtly or subtly questioning the “one China” principle.
Image Source: Quartz
China Pushes Back Against Global Efforts to Get Taiwan Observer Status in WHO
May 12, 2020
