Taiwan is not eligible to become a member or observer of the
World Health Organization (WHO), the Foreign Ministry said
yesterday.
"The WHO is a special institution of the UN, which can be joined
only by sovereign states," the ministry's spokesman Liu Jianchao
said.
China is a WHO member state, and Taiwan is part of China. Taiwan
is not eligible to become a WHO member or observer, he added.
The World Health Assembly has for nine consecutive times
rejected the proposals schemed by a small number of countries to
make Taiwan attend the assembly as an observer, Liu said.
"It indicates that the international community has a definite
and extensive consensus on this issue," he said.
China's central government has valued and safeguarded the health
welfare of the Taiwan people and made efforts to promote health
exchanges across the Taiwan Straits, Liu noted.
In 2005, China's Ministry of Health and the WHO Secretariat
signed a memorandum of understanding on Taiwan health and medical
experts' participation in WHO technical activities.
Over the past year, Taiwan health and medical experts have for
several times attended WHO technical activities, Liu said.
There are channels for Taiwan to acquire health technology
information, and there are no "loopholes" in international disease
prevention and control, he added.
While putting forward Taiwan-related proposals at the world
health assemblies, the Taiwan authorities actually conducted
political moves with the excuse of health issues in an effort to
serve the "Taiwan independence" secessionist activities, Liu
said.
"Such a political attempt will not succeed," he stressed.
A Taiwan-related proposal was put forward at the ongoing World
Health Assembly in Geneva.
(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2006)