Facts have proven that any attempt by the Taiwan authorities to create "two Chinas" and "one China, one Taiwan" in the World Health Organization (WHO) is doomed to failure, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in Beijing early Tuesday.  

Liu made the remarks after the 57th World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted with an overwhelming majority in Geneva on Monday a decision not to include on the agenda a proposal put forward by Solomon Islands and a few other countries to invite Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer.

It was the eighth successive rejection by the WHA to such proposals since 1997, Liu noted.

The WHO is a specialized agency of the United Nations and only sovereign states may join it. According to WHO and WHA rules and regulations, Taiwan, as part of China, is not eligible to participate in the WHO or attend the WHA as an observer.

China's central government has always been concerned about the well-being and right of health of the Taiwan compatriots, and has actively promoted cooperation in the medical and health field across the Taiwan Straits, Liu said, noting that the channel for exchanges between WHO experts and Taiwan experts has been smooth.

A handful of countries, instigated by the Taiwan authorities and ignoring their failure in the past years, have stubbornly insisted on putting forward proposals concerning Taiwan at the WHA, Liu said.

Such a behavior, which is against relevant resolutions by the United Nations Assembly and the WHA and against the principles of the WHO, has seriously disturbed the normal operation of the WHA, and it is natural that the behavior has been rejected by most member states, Liu said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2004)