Taiwan hopes to get a seat at World Health Assembly meeting Coronavirus pandemic News

Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan and its supporters have campaigned hard to see the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, meet as an observer on May 24.

The successful management of COVID-19 in Taiwan for more than a year and a half has renewed attention to Taiwan’s absence from the WHA, which President Tsai Ing-wen did not attend since the 2016 elections.

U.S. lawmakers have regularly asked to return to Taiwan as an observer in recent years, but this time the G7 has thrown Taiwan’s support this year under the hashtag #LetTaiwanHelp under the hashtag #LetTaiwanHelp to include European, Australian lawmakers. , Canada and New Zealand.

In late April, 16 members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) released a campaign video asking WHA to invite Taiwan, along with an increase in tweets from U.S. Congress lawmakers and the U.S. State Department.

“In the past, efforts outside of Congress were to send letters to the WHO or the Executive Branch or foreign capitals asking for help to enter Taiwan. This year, however, it has been a much more public and therefore deeper approach,” said Jessica Drun, a non-resident member of the US Project 2049 .

“This led to parliamentarians from all over the world and from party parties. He was also able to grow organically on the social media platform by creating statements from other leaders and public figures and activists,” he said.

Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang said the government will continue to wait for an invitation until the last minute to use the hashtag #LetTaiwanHelp to help support and promote its donations with the new hashtag #TaiwanIsHelping. oxygen tanks and other medical supplies to go to tough countries like India.

#LetTaiwanHelp

Yeh Ching-chuan, who went to the WHA in 2009 as an observer as a health minister, said at the time Taiwan was bringing in about 15 experts to attend scientific sessions and including the island’s successful national insurance program.

“It’s a short meeting,” Yheh said.

“WHA is only two days away and then there are scientific meetings, but participation is significant. For countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, they are still interested in some areas and even after returning, they contact our experts.”

An excellent meeting with Taiwanese Minister Chen to discuss the pandemic and health problems around the world. US supports access to Taiwan vaccines, health security contributions and return to the observatory #ZER #LetTaiwanHelp pic.twitter.com/xC4cPoFSZm

– Global Affairs of Office, HHS (@HHS_Global) May 21, 2021

#HRBC I would like to congratulate the President on my role as President of the CTPFG @iingwen while celebrating the 1st anniversary of its inauguration

Taiwan faces challenges with the abundance of coronavirus. It shows that diseases have no limits. Taiwan must be included within the WHO.

– Judy Sgro (@JudySgroMP) May 20, 2021

Medical experts would surely like to know how a Taiwanese delegation handled COVID-19, and what it contained most of the time..

So far this month, the island has had fewer than 1,200 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths, despite rising rates of infection in Taipei and New Taipei City in early May as a result of an outbreak linked to a cluster of China Airlines pilots.

Known as the Republic of China, Taiwan initially represented China in the WHO and WHA, but was expelled from the institutions in 1972, a year after Beijing was formally accepted by the United Nations.

Taiwan received an invitation to attend an observer from 2009 to 2016 in the pro-Chinese presidency of Ma Ying-jeou, but the offer was canceled when Tsai took office.

New friends

Since the election, Beijing, when it claims to be its own self-governing island, has pushed to limit Taiwan’s international presence and participation, as well as its participation in non-political organizations such as the WHO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The number of countries in which Taiwan has maintained formal diplomatic relations has also declined since Tsai became president – only 15 states are now recognized above Taipei Beijing.

However, Fears of China’s influence in Europe have increasingly led to new allies for Taiwan in difficult places, including Lithuania, the Czech Republic and the European Parliament.

Taiwan has been unable to attend the WHA since 2016 after pressure from China. It’s hard lobbying to go to this year’s sessions [File: Christopher Black/World Health Organization via AFP]

Prior to the WHA, the Czech Senate passed a resolution calling on Taiwan to participate in “all meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the WHO, while Lithuanian and Czech legislators participate in IPAC, along with representatives from 10 other European countries.

“A couple of years ago, Taiwan was not seen as one of the most important players in Europe’s Asian strategy and countries. [individual] strategies. That has changed, of course, due to the development of Hong Kong, Xinjiang, the coronavirus pandemic and the US administration on the island, ”said Chinese researcher Ivana Karásková and project coordinator for the Prague International Affairs Association.

“In terms of practical implications, it may change the island’s isolation from international organizations and forums, but it makes it clear that the country is ready to contact Taiwan.”