China strongly opposes the European Parliament's interference into its internal affairs by supporting Taiwan's efforts to join the World Health Organization (WHO), Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Tuesday.
"Taiwan, a province of China, has no qualifications to join the WHO, a special body of the United Nations that only sovereignties have the right to join,'' Zhang said at Tuesday's regularly scheduled media briefing.
The European Parliament reportedly passed a resolution last Thursday requiring the European Commission and its 15 member states to support Taiwan's effort to join the WHO as an observer.
"Not a single foreign country has the right to meddle or interfere in the Taiwan question, which is an internal affair of China's and should be resolved by the Chinese,'' Zhang said. "Any motion to bring forward Taiwan's participation into the WHO, regardless of the reason, constitutes an infringement on China's sovereignty and territory integrity. We are firmly against such a practice.''
Zhang said the World Health Convention has overruled proposals for Taiwan's entry into the WHO every year since 1997.
It shows that China's stance on this question has won understanding and support from most countries, she said.
Zhang said relations between China and the European Union (EU) remain friendly overall.
She urged the European Parliament, a supervisory and consultative body of the EU, to stand by the EU's One-China policy and stop any activities interrupting the long-term, stable and healthy development of Sino-European relations.
She also said China is strongly against Taiwan politicians' taking every means, including foreign visits, to split the motherland in the international community.
"It will make more trouble for political negotiations between the mainland and Taiwan and further strain relations across the Taiwan Straits,'' she said.
In another development, Zhang said China issued visas last Friday enabling four congressmen from the Republic of Korea (ROK) to visit China.
They applied to visit China in December to hear China's opinions on the revision of ROK legislation concerning overseas Koreans.
China denied their visa applications at the time on the grounds that it was unnecessary and improper for the congressmen to conduct an investigation concerning Chinese citizens of Korean minority.
"It targeted the matter itself while not the four personally,'' Zhang said.
China issued the visas after confirming that the congressmen will visit China this month as guests of the ROK Embassy in Beijing.
"We hope they will do more things that will benefit bilateral relations during their visit,'' Zhang said.
(China Daily March 20, 2002)
