Taiwan is still hoping to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA) even though the chances are not high. That was the word from Bob Chen, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) Department of International Organizations. He was speaking at the legislature on Monday.
The World Health Assembly will be held as a video conference on May 18. The annual meeting of the World Health Organization will focus on COVID-19.
The foreign ministry is asking allied nations to support Taiwan’s bid to participate. But Chen said that Taiwan’s participation must be based on the principles of “sovereignty” and “dignity”.
When asked about WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s claims that Taiwan is behind a campaign of personal attacks against him, Deputy Foreign Minister Hsu Szu-chien said the accusations are false. Hsu stressed that the foreign ministry did not instigate the attacks as Tedros has claimed.
Taiwan has participated in the WHA in the past as an observer. It did so under the name Chinese Taipei, from 2009 to 2016, when President Ma Ying-jeou was in office.
Beijing has blocked Taiwan’s participation in the WHA since 2017.