Taiwan and the World Health Organization (WHO) have a complicated history due to Taiwan and the WHO's relationship with China.
Taiwan and the World Health Organization (WHO) have a complicated history due to Taiwan and the WHO's relationship with China.
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]
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]
The Republic of China (ROC), often known informally as Taiwan, currently has formal diplomatic relations with 12 of the 193 United Nations member states and with the Holy See, which governs Vatican City, as of 7 January 2024. In addition to these relations, the ROC also maintains unofficial relations with 59 UN member states, one self-declared state (Somaliland), three territories, and the European Union via its representative offices and consulates under the One China principle. The government of the Republic of China has the 31st largest diplomatic network in the world with 110 offices.
The member states of the United Nations comprise 193 sovereign states. The United Nations (UN) is the world's largest intergovernmental organization. All members have equal representation in the UN General Assembly.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.
The political status of Taiwan or the Taiwan issue is a long-running dispute on the political status of Taiwan, currently controlled by the Republic of China (ROC). This dispute arose in the mid-twentieth century, and is ongoing.
"Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan.
China is one of the charter members of the United Nations and is one of five permanent members of its Security Council.
The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 was passed in response to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1668 that required any change in China's representation in the UN be determined by a two-thirds vote referring to Article 18 of the UN Charter. The resolution, passed on 25 October 1971, recognized the People's Republic of China as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations" and removed "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" from the United Nations.
The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states.
"Taiwan, China", "Taiwan, Province of China", and "Taipei, China" are controversial political terms that claim Taiwan and its associated territories as a province or territory of "China".
Observer status is a privilege granted by some organizations to non-members to give them an ability to participate in the organization's activities. Observer status is often granted by intergovernmental organizations (IGO) to non-member parties and international nongovernmental organizations (INGO) that have an interest in the IGO's activities. Observers generally have a limited ability to participate in the IGO, lacking the ability to vote or propose resolutions.
Oceania is, to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, a stage for continuous diplomatic competition. The PRC dictates that no state can have diplomatic relations with both the PRC and the ROC. As of 2019, ten states in Oceania have diplomatic relations with the PRC, and four have diplomatic relations with the ROC. These numbers fluctuate as Pacific Island nations re-evaluate their foreign policies, and occasionally shift diplomatic recognition between Beijing and Taipei. The issue of which "Chinese" government to recognize has become a central theme in the elections of numerous Pacific Island nations, and has led to several votes of no-confidence.
Edward Yau Tang-wah, GBS, JP is a Hong Kong politician. He was the Secretary for the Environment from 2007 to 2012, and from 2012 to 2017, he was the Director of the Chief Executive's Office of Hong Kong. He served as Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development from 2017 to 2022.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, diplomat, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2017. Tedros is the first African to become WHO Director-General, receiving an endorsement for the role by the African Union. He played a role in the response to the Ebola virus epidemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022–2023 mpox outbreak.
The following lists events that happened during 2020 in China.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. As of 19 March 2023 in Taiwan, 10,231,343 are confirmed cases, including 18,775 deaths.
Bruce Aylward is a Canadian physician and epidemiologist. Since September 2017, Aylward has been Senior Advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization. He is part of the implementation of the WHO's COVAX Facility. He has past experience in the areas of polio eradication, Zika virus, and Ebola.
The Pulse is a Hong Kong weekly current affairs television program produced by RTHK that airs on RTHK TV 31, which provides in-depth reports and interviews on current issues in Hong Kong, mainland China and the rest of the world. Created by its first executive producer Gary Pollard, the series broadcast its first episode on January 7, 2005. The programme is hosted by Stephen Vines, a Hong Kong-based writer and journalist.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a leading organisation involved in the global coordination for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic within the broader United Nations response to the pandemic.
Kenneth Chuang Yin-ching is a Taiwanese epidemiologist. As of January 2020, he leads the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (TCDC) Communicable Disease Control Medical Network.
On 6 September, the biggest protests in the course of the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests since 1 July occurred in the city. The fresh protests were in a large part due to the day having been the scheduled election day for the Legislative Council; on 31 July, the Hong Kong government had the elections postponed by a year, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, a justification that was widely doubted. The unauthorized protests resulted in nearly 300 arrests, one of them on suspected violation of the national security law, and brought the total number of arrests during the entire protests since June 2019 to above 10,000.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) Alt URL 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.
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