The United States has rolled out a new online campaign showing support for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization and the United Nations. The US State Department launched a “Tweet for Taiwan” campaign on Friday calling for Taiwan’s inclusion in the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is the annual meeting of the WHO.
In a six-tweet thread, the US State Department said Taiwan “belongs at the table” when the world gathers to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan's health ministry sent a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) asking to participate in the upcoming assembly from May 17-21. But the ministry said Sunday that it has not yet received a reply.
Taiwan participated in the WHA events as an observer from 2009-2016 under the name “Chinese Taipei”. It has not been allowed to attend the WHA since President Tsai Ing-wen came to office in May, 2016.
The US Mission to the United Nations on Friday also tweeted its support for Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations. China responded by expressing “strong indignation and firm opposition.”
The tweet from the US Mission to the United Nations said the 193-member global organization was founded to welcome “a diversity of views and perspectives” and promote human rights. It said “Barring #Taiwan from setting foot on UN grounds is an affront not just to the proud Taiwanese people, but to UN principles.” It was retweeted by US Ambassador Kelly Craft.
The Trump administration has been ramping up its criticism of how China and the WHO initially handled the COVID-19 crisis.
On Friday, White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany criticized the WHO for not heeding a December 31 warning it received from Taiwan regarding the new coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. The WHO has responded by insisting the email from Taiwan did not amount to a warning but was, rather, a request for more information. Taiwan officials say that the email’s mention of cases being treated in isolation was a warning that there might be human-to-human transmission of the virus.