World Health Assembly once again rejects Taiwan-related proposal-Xinhua

World Health Assembly once again rejects Taiwan-related proposal

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2023-05-22 20:28:15

GENEVA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The 76th World Health Assembly (WHA), the highest decision-making body of the World Health Organization, decided on Monday not to include in its agenda a proposal on Taiwan's participation in the annual assembly as an observer.

Currently, global health security poses significant challenges, and most assembly member states hope for increased solidarity and cooperation to tackle these issues. Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have gone against the trend and insisted on Taiwan-related proposals, a political ploy to engage in "Taiwan independence" separatist activities by hyping up its participation in the WHA.

Chen Xu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said in a statement that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. Taiwan's participation in WHO activities must be handled under the one-China principle.

The DPP authorities refuse to recognize that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China, unilaterally abandoning the political foundation for the Taiwan region to participate in the WHA, Chen said.

The DPP authorities hyped up an alleged "international epidemic prevention gap." But they did not mention that under the one-China principle, medical experts from the Taiwan region can participate in the WHO's technical activities, Chen said. He added that the Taiwan region can establish and effectively operate contact points for the International Health Regulations under the one-China principle.

Chen stated that the actions taken by the DPP authorities are aimed at creating "two Chinas."

Chen emphasized that before the opening of the WHA, nearly 140 countries made clear to China their position of adhering to the one-China principle and opposing Taiwan's participation in the WHA. Nearly 100 countries specifically wrote to the WHO Director-General or issued public statements on the issue.

This demonstrates that "a just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds little," Chen said. Any attempt to seek "Taiwan independence" under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic is doomed to fail.