Taiwan and the World Health Organization

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"#TaiwanCanHelp" installation art displayed in front of the Palace of Nations in Geneva during the 2023 World Health Assembly.

Taiwan and the World Health Organization (WHO) have a complicated history due to Taiwan and the WHO's relationship with China.

History

Ever since United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 recognising the People's Republic of China (PRC) as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations" and removing "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" from the United Nations, Taiwan lost its UN seat and the PRC has blocked it from participation in UN-affiliated entities.[1]

Taiwan's limited participation in the World Health Organization was as an observer in the World Health Assembly from 2009 to 2016, under the designation "Chinese Taipei". China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory but does not administer health policy across the Strait, blocked it from participating in the assembly following the election of Tsai Ing-wen as president in 2016.

On December 31, 2019, Taiwan's government expressed concerns to the WHO about the virus's potential for human-to-human transmission, but received no response. The WHO instead endorsed China's denial of human-to-human transmission until January 21, when China confirmed it. Having experienced the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, Taiwan immediately adopted vigorous measures for screening, testing, contact tracing, and enforcing quarantines, in what was widely considered a successful pandemic response.[2]

COVID-19 pandemic

See also: COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan

Due to Taiwan's successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic, its inclusion in the WHO gained international attention in 2020, with strong support from the United States, Japan, Germany and Australia.[3]

In February 2020, Taiwan became more vocal about its exclusion from World Health Organization meetings.[4]

In an April 2020 interview, Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward appeared to dodge a question from RTHK reporter Yvonne Tong about Taiwan's response to the pandemic and inclusion in the WHO, saying he couldn't hear her and asking to move to another question.[5] When the video chat was restarted, he was asked another question about Taiwan. He responded by indicating that they had already discussed China and formally ended the interview.[6] The incident led to accusations about the PRC's political influence over the international organization.[7][8][9] In May 2020, Taiwan rejected China's main condition for it to be able to participate at the WHO, which was to accept that it was part of China.[10]

In May 2023, two reporters from Taiwan's Central News Agency were denied access to the World Health Assembly. The exclusion of Taiwanese journalists was criticized by international journalist organizations and the Taiwanese government.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hale, Erin. "Taiwan taps on United Nations' door, 50 years after departure". www.aljazeera.com.
  2. ^ "Why Does the WHO Exclude Taiwan?". Council on Foreign Relations.
  3. ^ "Taiwan Picks Up International Support After Being Barred from World Health Assembly". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 2023-05-28.
  4. ^ Tan, Huileng (6 February 2020). "Taipei lashes out at China for blocking Taiwan's access to the World Health Organization". CNBC.
  5. ^ Griffiths, James (5 April 2020). "Taiwan's coronavirus response is among the best globally". CNN. Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. ^ Grundy, Tom. "Video: Top WHO doctor Bruce Aylward pretends not to hear journalist's Taiwan questions, ends video call". www.hongkongfp.com. Hong Kong Free Press. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  7. ^ "The Pulse：Coronavirus situations in New York city, London and Lombardy, Italy & interview with WHO Bruce Aylward". YouTube. Interview by Yvonne Tong. RTHK VNEWS. 28 March 2020. 16:35 to 20:59. Archived from the original on 2020-03-28. Retrieved 29 March 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) Alt URL
  8. ^ Wulfsohn, Joseph (28 March 2020). "WHO accused of 'carrying China's water' after official refuses to acknowledge Taiwan during bizarre interview". Fox News. Gordon G. Chang. Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Aylward's behavior reminds us that either we remove #China's pernicious influence in multilateral institutions like the #WorldHealthOrganization or the world's free states defund them and start over.
  9. ^ "Why Taiwan has become a problem for WHO". BBC News. March 30, 2020.
  10. ^ "Taiwan rejects China's main condition for WHO participation". Reuters. May 15, 2020 – via www.reuters.com.
  11. ^ Huang, Novia; Chen, Christie (23 May 2023). "Taiwan foreign media club backs CNA reporters barred from covering WHA". focustaiwan.tw. Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
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