US and Taiwan to keep pressing for Taipei’s inclusion in WHA and other international bodies
- US State Department says discussion, which included Taiwan and US officials, focused on support for Taiwan’s expanded participation
- China has blocked Taiwan’s involvement in the World Health Assembly, where World Health Organization policies are forged
Without identifying which officials are taking part or what the efforts entail, the US State Department on Wednesday said that the meeting – organised by the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy on the self-ruled island, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington – included representatives from the State Department and Taiwan’s foreign ministry.
“This discussion focused on near-term opportunities to support Taiwan’s expanded participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA) and other global public health bodies, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, as well as Taiwan’s meaningful participation in non-UN international, regional and multilateral organisations,” it said.
The announcement was nearly identical to one issued weeks before this year’s WHA, the annual conference in Geneva at which World Health Organization (WHO) policies are hammered out. The conference, held this year in May, invites representatives of all 194 UN member countries to attend.
The mainland Chinese government, voicing opposition along with Pakistan, blocked Taiwan’s participation, as it has done each year since 2017, when tensions across the Taiwan Strait began mounting. Beijing replaced Taipei as a permanent UN member in 1971, as the US and other Western countries began talks aimed at switching their diplomatic recognition to mainland China.
