The World Health Assembly has again rejected Taiwan’s proposal to attend

On May 21, the 76th World Health Assembly opened in Geneva, Switzerland, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video address at the opening of the assembly that since the founding of WHO, human health has made great progress. On May 22, after a short debate, the World Health Assembly regrettably decided not to include in its agenda a proposal by Taiwan’s friends to invite Taiwan to participate in the WHO as an observer. It is also the seventh year in a row that Taiwan’s bid to join the World Health Assembly has failed.
When Tedros attended a WHO tour in Geneva on the same day, he met a Taiwanese team and was asked whether Taiwan should participate in the WHO. Tedros replied that the matter should be decided by member states’ vote and that the questioner should talk to member states.
In response to the decision, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday, saying, “The Ministry cannot accept China’s repeated attempts to undermine the health and human rights of Taiwan people by placing politics over the public interest of global health security. In addition, China falsely claims that it has made proper arrangements for Taiwan’s participation in global health affairs, and the Foreign Ministry rejects China’s lies and bullying to mislead the international community.”
Taiwan’s foreign ministry stressed that only Taiwan’s democratically elected government can represent Taiwan’s 23.5 million people in the WHO and other international organizations. “The Chinese government is responsible for protecting the health and human rights of Taiwan’s people, and the Chinese government has no right or ability to do so for them,” it said.
While the World Health Assembly declined to support Taiwan’s participation as an observer, representatives of Japan, Britain, France, the Czech Republic and Canada spoke strongly in support of Taiwan at the WHO Assembly. Washington has also sounded the alarm over the WHO’s continued exclusion of Taiwan in recent days, with the US mission in Geneva tweeting that “isolating Taiwan from the 76th World Health Assembly as we continue to respond to new health threats around the world… Undermining inclusive global public health cooperation led by WHO “.
The medical association also criticized that China and Pakistan have once again hijacked the UN Resolution 2758 in a malicious attempt to reinforce the false message that Taiwan is part of China in the “two-on-two debate”. “Taiwan’s exclusion from the World Health Organization is the world’s fault to Taiwan, not Taiwan’s fault to the world,” it said.
In response, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “In disregard of the will of all parties and the well-being of Taiwan compatriots, the Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party insists on abetting countries with so-called diplomatic relations to make Taiwan-related proposals.” “Before the opening of the conference, nearly 100 countries sent special letters to the WHO and issued statements to express their stance of adhering to the One-China principle and opposing Taiwan’s participation in the WHO.”
The statement not only lashed out at Taiwan’s government, but also singled out the U.S., Japan and other countries that supported Taiwan’s participation. “China also urges individual countries not to pretend to be confused in the name of understanding, stop politicizing health issues, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of the Taiwan issue, and stop the wrong practice of ‘using Taiwan to control China,'” the statement said.