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Taiwan has observer status at the World Health Organisation, which is based in Geneva. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Taiwan's new government accuses mainland China of interfering in its status at WHO

Taiwan

The incoming Taiwanese government has accused mainland China of political interference after a senior Chinese official cast doubt over the island keeping its observer status at the World Health Organisation if the two sides relations deteriorated further.

Mainland China and self-ruled Taiwan underwent a rapprochement under the outgoing government which was run by Beijing-friendly Nationalists, but ties have begun to strain with their successors, the independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party.

Tsai and the DPP won landslide presidential and parliamentary elections in January, in part on rising anti-mainland sentiment on the island. She has said she will maintain the status quo with Beijing, but has never conceded to a key agreement, the “one China” principle.

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Under this agreement with the Nationalists, Taiwan and China agree they are both part of a single China, although both sides lay claim to being its legitimate government.

We believe this is political interference in our participation in the WHO. We cannot accept this
Tung Chen-yuan, Taiwan cabinet spokesman

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office, mainland China’s top agency that deals with the island, said on Friday that Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly was an arrangement based on the “one China” principle, and that this could cease “should the political foundation of cross-Strait ties be destabilised in the future”, according to a state-run Xinhua news agency report.

Taiwan, an island separated by the Taiwan Strait from mainland China, has attended the annual gathering of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO, since 2009 in an observer status.

DPP cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan said the comments by the Taiwan Affairs Office were unacceptable.

“We believe this is political interference in our participation in the WHO. We cannot accept this and express our solemn protest,” Tung said at a press conference late on Sunday.

“Taiwan people’s health and their right to fully participate in the international community must not be constrained by any political framework,” he said.

China has considered self-ruled Taiwan a wayward province ever since defeated Nationalists fled to the island after a civil war with China’s communists in 1949. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take back the island, particularly if it makes moves toward independence.

Tung said Taiwan’s participation in the upcoming WHO meeting and the issue of “one China” were not associated matters, indicating the new government was not conceding to accepting the “one China” principle.

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Taiwan has diplomatic ties with only 22, mostly small and poor, states. Most major nations and multilateral organisations, like the WHO which falls under the United Nations, formally recognise China.

The WHO invited Taiwan, but the invitation also referenced a resolution under the UN that recognises China, according to the Taiwan government.

Tung said the incoming government would send its new health minister Lin Tzuo-yien to the meeting, which will be held in Geneva from May 23 to 28.

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