World Health Organization Bows To China, Excludes Taiwan From Annual Assembly

The World Health Organization (WHO) has once again rejected a proposal to include Taiwan in its annual World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting, currently underway in Geneva, Switzerland. The decision, which marks the eighth consecutive year of Taiwan’s exclusion, is seen as a move to appease Communist China, which opposes any international recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state.

China has long pressured the WHO to adhere to its “one-China principle,” which falsely claims that Taiwan is a province of China and not a legitimate government. The Chinese Foreign Ministry urged certain countries to stop challenging this principle and accused them of politicizing health issues.

Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHA has been criticized by many, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who argued that Taiwan’s exceptional capabilities and approaches offer considerable value to inform the WHA’s deliberations. Blinken stated that Taiwan’s continued exclusion undermines inclusive global public health cooperation and security.

Taiwanese Health Minister Chiu Tai-yuan and a delegation of health experts and legislators traveled to Geneva to denounce the injustice of excluding Taiwan from the WHA meeting. Chiu argued that neither UN resolutions nor WHO rules preclude Taiwan from participating as an observer and that China has no right to interfere with or restrict Taiwan’s participation.

The WHO’s decision to exclude Taiwan is particularly controversial given the country’s effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic and China’s history of providing inaccurate information to the organization during the early stages of the outbreak.