WHO countries won’t invite Taiwan to annual assembly
GENEVA—Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday rejected a proposal to invite Taiwan to its annual assembly in Geneva after China voiced opposition.
Belize and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who are among just 12 remaining countries with formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, spoke on behalf of a group of countries who brought a proposal to include it as an observer in this year’s WHO meeting.
Saint Vincent described Taiwan’s exclusion as “unfair and self-defeating” and Belize’s envoy said it “weakens our collective preparedness and response capabilities.”
No major Western country spoke for Taiwan or signed the proposal, and the United States, which plans to quit the WHO, left its seat empty.
But China, which regards the democratically governed island of Taiwan as its territory, and Pakistan opposed the motion and the assembly accepted Taiwan’s exclusion.
‘Political lie’
“The proposal openly challenges the authority of the UN and the postwar international order,” said Chinese Ambassador Chen Xu, who is part of a more than 200-strong Chinese delegation at the meeting.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said Taiwanese authorities’ “separatist” stance has led to the loss of a political foundation for its participation in the assembly. It denied that there was any gap in pandemic preparedness due to Taiwan’s exclusion, calling that a “political lie.”
