Even in the coronavirus era, politics trumps public health when Taiwan is involved

Island has once again been denied permission to take part in the World Health Assembly despite its exemplary handling of the coronavirus pandemic

Taipei should ‘seize the opportunity brought by Covid-19 to show itself as a capable small nation, similar to Singapore’, academic says

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Taiwan has reported just seven deaths from Covid-19 since the start of the global health crisis. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:00am, 14 Nov 2020Updated: 6:18am, 14 Nov 2020

Taiwan has again been excluded from the World Health Assembly (WHA) despite its success in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, with only seven deaths reported on the self-ruled island and no local transmissions for more than 200 days.

The assembly is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 member states. The WHO, in turn, has a mandate under the United Nations to guide global public health policies, including responses to epidemics.

Taiwan and its 24 million people have not had a voice at the UN since 1971, when resolution 2758 was passed to recognise the People’s Republic of China and expel the government in Taipei. It had its membership of the WHO revoked the following year.

According to Wayne Tan, an associate professor of international politics at Taiwan’s National Chung Hsing University, the island has shown in its handling of Covid-19 that it does not need the WHO for public health purposes, but recognition by such bodies would give it standing on the international stage. That is where it hits a brick wall known as Beijing.

“What is the real motivation behind Taiwan’s continuous fight to join the WHA and WHO?” Tan said.

Taipei was seeking a channel through which it could be recognised by the international community and to counter Beijing as the only legitimate representative government of “China”, he said.