Washington, May 17 (CNA) Heavyweight lawmakers in the United States on Friday called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to invite Taiwan to attend the annual World Health Assembly (WHA), the decision-making body of the WHO, this year.
Steven Chabot, Gerry Connolly, Mario Diaz-Balart and Albio Sires, the co-chairs of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, sent a joint letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to urge the global health organization to include Taiwan in the 72nd session of the WHA.
This year's WHA is scheduled to open on May 20 and run through May 28. Taiwan was not invited to attend the meeting as China opposed its participation once again due to Taiwan's refusal to accept Beijing's "one China principle."
"We are concerned that Taiwan has not yet received an invitation, given that the WHA begins in less than a week," the U.S. lawmakers said in the joint letter.
"We are particularly troubled by recent media reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) is unlikely to invite Taiwan to participate in the absence of a 'cross-strait understanding' between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC), a position that gives Beijing veto power over whether Taiwan can participate," they said.
Taiwan had hoped to attend the upcoming WHA in Geneva as an observer, as it had done from 2009 to 2016.
The four U.S. congressmen said Taiwan has provided more than 80 countries with humanitarian and medical assistance valued at over US$6 billion in the last quarter century.
They cited Taiwan's ministries of health and welfare and foreign affairs as saying the country runs more than 50 programs to fight diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, bird flu, Ebola, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Zika, dengue fever, breast cancer, and kidney failure in over 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the South Pacific.
In addition, the four lawmakers said, Taiwan has also worked extensively with the U.S. on research on influenza, chronic diseases, injury prevention, rotavirus, norovirus, vaccine advocacy, foodborne illness, zoonotic diseases, and tobacco use epidemiology among other health issues.
"Taiwan has set an example for others to follow with its commitment to international health cooperation," the four congressmen said in the letter. "Taiwan's demonstrated health care expertise in several areas enables it to contribute meaningfully to the urgent health care needs of the international community."
Since 2017, China has been persuading the WHO not to invite Taiwan, due to its displeasure over President Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party refusing to accept the 1992 consensus, an agreement reached between the two sides in 1992 under which the two sides agree there is only one China.
During the eight years before Tsai came into office, Taiwan participated in the WHA as an observer under the name Chinese Taipei amid better relations with China under the then-Kuomintang administration.
Despite not receiving an invitation to this year's WHA, a delegation led by Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung departed for Geneva on Friday to increase the global community's understanding about Taiwan's contributions to the world's health.
