US courts Chinese anger by stepping up push for Taiwan to take part in World Health Organisation
- Washington and its allies have stepped up call for island to attend World Health Assembly as an observer
- China has strongly resisted any moves to include the island, which it regards as a breakaway province, and the push is likely to deepen the divisions between the two sides
Washington has accelerated its push for Taiwan to be represented at the World Health Organisation in a move that is expected to further deepen the rift with Beijing.
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world, the US has promoted the island’s “incredible expertise” in battling the disease and rallied its allies – including Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union – to support Taiwan’s participation in the global health body.
Washington’s moves were strongly opposed by Beijing which has warned that any official role for Taiwan at the WHO would violate China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of WHO, will hold a two-day meeting on the pandemic through teleconferencing later this month.
Taipei has expressed its strong desire to attend the meeting but said it has yet to receive an invitation.
In a news briefing in Geneva on Monday, Steven Solomon, the WHO’s principal legal officer, said the WHO recognised Beijing as the “one legitimate representative of China”, in keeping with UN policy since 1971.
“The involvement … of Taiwanese observers in that assembly, is a question for the 194 governments of the WHO. This is not something that WHO secretariat has the authority to decide,” he noted.
Solomon said the WHO understands that a number of countries have voiced their concerns on the issue, “but it is not the role of WHO’s staff to be involved in geopolitical issues. In fact, our principles of neutrality and impartiality exist to keep us out of those issues”.
He added that last year Taiwanese representatives had attended eight WHO meetings for experts and six informal events, adding that two medical experts had taken part in a video conference this year to discuss the pandemic.
On Saturday, Liu Yuyin, a spokesman for China’s permanent mission in Geneva, warned that calls for Taiwan to play a role in the assembly sent the wrong message to pro-independence forces on the island and criticised Washington for “politicising” global efforts to combat the pandemic.
Liu was referring to a conference call by US Health Secretary Alex Azar with Taiwan’s health officials last week where he expressed America’s full support for Taiwan joining WHO events as an observer.
“By doing so, the US politicises the epidemic prevention and sends a very wrong signal to secessionist forces in Taiwan, China. China firmly opposes it,” Liu said in a public statement.
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Besides Azar, US officials and members of Congress have also posted widely on social media in support of the campaign, including acting head of the US Agency for International Development John Barsa, senator Marco Rubio and congressman Michael McCaul.
“In addition to trumpeting Taiwan’s achievement through the WHO platform, the US is trying to push for Taiwan to participate in the global health body in order to break the long-time ‘unspoken rules’ in the WHO that Taiwan’s participation needs approval from China,” said Lai I-chung, president of Prospect Foundation, a government think-tank in Taipei.
Such a move would only escalate the tension between Washington and Beijing whose relations have already been greatly strained by criticism of how Beijing and the WHO have handled the outbreak, Lai said.
Zhu Songling, a professor specialising in cross-strait affairs at Beijing Union University, also warned that the cracks between China and the US would further widen as the two countries diverged over Taiwan.
“The US has been using rough words in dealing with China, unlike what a super power and world leader should do. This is regrettable.
“Chinese people are not afraid to deal with trouble and if diplomatic conflict becomes inevitable, [China] will deal with it,” Zhu said.
Zheng Zhenqing, a Taiwan affairs specialist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, pointed out that Beijing would not give in on sovereignty issues in spite of pressure from the US.
“The reason that the US has stepped up pressure on China on Taiwan issues is because Washington has now taken a totally hostile position against Beijing,” Zheng said.
“The Taiwan card is only one of the many cards that Washington can play. If the US wants to take a confrontational stance against China, then China will have no choice but to stand firm and defend its own interest.”
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In his public statement, Liu also disputed claims that Taiwan had not been properly informed when Covid-19 first appeared on the mainland, saying both Beijing and the WHO have been in contact with the island since the outbreak and Beijing has provided “tremendous assistance”.
Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou cried foul on Tuesday, saying Beijing has not ruled the island since 1949, adding that the 1971 decision to replace Beijing with Taipei as China’s UN representative had not resolved the Taiwan question and did not give Beijing the power to represent the island internationally.
“Only the democratically elected Taiwanese government can represent Taiwan’s 23 million people in the international community,” Ou said on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Kristin Huang
