Reporter: The representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Turkey has recently attempted to hype up the issue of Taiwan region's inability to participate in this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in the local media. Does the Embassy have any comment? 

Embassy Spokesperson: The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized organization of the United Nations that only sovereign countries are qualified to join. China is a member of the WHO, and Taiwan, as part of China, has no right to join the WHO. The position of the Chinese side is consistent and clear. That is, the participation of China’s Taiwan region in activities of international organizations, including the WHO, must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle. This is a fundamental principle confirmed in UNGA Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1. The WHA has, for five consecutive years, explicitly rejected the inclusion of proposal by a handful of countries to invite Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer in its agenda . This time and again shows that the one-China principle is widely accepted and supported by the international community, which allows no challenge.

The Chinese Central Government attaches great importance to the health and well-being of our compatriots in the Taiwan region. On the basis of abiding by the one-China principle, we have made appropriate arrangements for the Taiwan region's participation in global health affairs. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese Central Government has given the Taiwan region updates about the situation, and approved participation by health experts from the Taiwan region in WHO technical activities. There is an International Health Regulations Contact Point in Taiwan. Taiwan enjoys unimpeded channel of communication and sound mechanisms for information sharing with the WHO and countries in the world. The claim that refusal to Taiwan’s participation in the WHA is jeopardizing global health and security is utterly groundless.

The true intention of the Taiwan authorities' Taiwan-related proposal at the WHA is to serve for its "Taiwan independence" separatist agenda under the pretext of health issues. Since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came into power, it has placed its political agenda over the well-being of the people in the Taiwan region, obstinately adhered to its separatist position of seeking "Taiwan independence", and refused to admit the 1992 Consensus embodying the one-China principle. As a result, the political foundation of cross-strait negotiations has been  undermined, and the political foundation for the Taiwan region to participate in the WHA has therefore ceased to exist. In order to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity and uphold the solemnity and authority of relevant UNGA and WHA resolutions, China cannot agree to Taiwan region’s participation in the WHA. We advise the DPP authorities to stop exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to engage in political manipulation. Otherwise, it will only invite humiliation to itself. Any intention to hype up Taiwan-related issues at the WHA and attempt of deception and provocation in the international arena is doomed to failure.