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What does US leaving the WHO mean for Taiwan’s campaign to rejoin?
- Taipei had been counting on Washington’s support for it to take part in the World Health Assembly
- The island says it’s not giving up, but Donald Trump’s move puts Taiwan in a difficult position
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As the US begins the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organisation, it raises a big question for Taiwan: where does this leave its bid to rejoin the WHO’s decision-making body?
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Washington’s support has been crucial in Taipei’s push to take part in the World Health Assembly, something Beijing – which sees Taiwan as part of its territory – has blocked since the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party took power in 2016.
For now, the self-ruled island says it is not giving up.
Taipei was ousted from the WHO, a UN body, in 1972 – a year after it was expelled from the United Nations when Beijing joined. After a long campaign, it rejoined as a WHA observer in 2009, helped by Kuomintang president Ma Ying-jeou’s policy of engaging with Beijing.
But that status was revoked four years ago, when Tsai Ing-wen took office and refused to accept the one-China principle. Since then, Beijing – which is influential in the WHO – has maintained that Taipei can only take part with its consent. And as tensions mount across the Taiwan Strait, that consent has not been forthcoming.
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