Officials to attend the WHA without an invitation
Deputy Health Minister Lee Li-feng (李麗芬) and other government officials will travel to Geneva, Switzerland later this month during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA), although Taiwan has not been invited to attend, her ministry said yesterday.
Lee and the other officials hope to meet with representatives from WHO member countries on the sidelines to hold talks and garner support for Taiwan’s participation in the forum, the health ministry said, without giving details of the officials’ agenda.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at his daily press briefing that he had planned to lead the group to Geneva but couldn’t because he has to lead Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) during a COVID-19 outbreak. 19 cases.
Photo: CNA
Chen said he has delegated the role to his deputy Lee, who, as in the past, is to share Taiwan’s healthcare experiences on the sidelines of the annual WHA.
The WHA, WHO’s decision-making body, will meet this year in a hybrid format of in-person and virtual meetings, after two years of video conferencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan was removed from the WHO in 1972 after losing its US seat when the organization moved official recognition to Beijing.
Taiwan attended WHA events as an observer, dubbed “Chinese Taipei,” from 2009 to 2016, when relations between the countries warmed during the then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government in Taiwan.
However, Taiwan has been barred from the WHA since 2017 because of Beijing’s crackdown on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the Democratic Progressive Party for asserting Taiwan’s sovereignty stronger than the previous government.
Nonetheless, Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and other friendly nations have expressed support for their participation in international organizations, including the WHA.
The US House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation late last month to ask Washington to help Taiwan regain its WHA observer status.
The bill, approved by the US Senate in August last year, is scheduled to be presented to US President Joe Biden for signature.
Legislators in countries such as Denmark, Latvia and Slovakia, as well as the European Parliament, have passed resolutions in support of Taiwan’s participation in the WHA.
The State Department said Saturday it was working with the Health Ministry to find a way for Taiwan to participate as an observer this year.
The ministry said it will continue to express the wishes of Taiwan’s 23.9 million residents through international channels such as social media and online videos to educate the world about the country’s contributions to global health and lessons learned from coping with the pandemic inform.
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