The Taiwan authorities had yet to receive an invitation to the 74th annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) as of Monday, the deadline for registration. This means the island of Taiwan has basically lost the possibility of attending the virtual conference of the WHA. Taiwan authorities’ attempt to return to WHA has once again experienced a severe setback. Out of sinister purposes of using the Taiwan question to pressure the Chinese mainland, the US and its allies in a joint communiqué after the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting last week expressed, for the first time, support for Taiwan’s “meaningful participation” in the World Health Organization (WHO) forums and the WHA. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken specifically called for WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to invite the island to participate in the WHA conference. In view of such an unprecedented scene, the Taiwan authorities became ecstatic and hyped up the hope for the island to return to the WHA. However, the WHO is a body of the United Nations. It doesn’t belong to the US, nor to the G7. Agencies under the UN must abide by the one-China principle. This is the bottom line. As the Taiwan authorities headed by then regional leader Ma Ying-jeou acknowledged the 1992 Consensus and the one-China principle, Taiwan at that time was able to participate in the WHA in the name of “Chinese Taipei” and as an observer with the consent of the Chinese government. After the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan assumed office, it abandoned the 1992 Consensus and jeopardized the one-China principle. In such context, conditions for the Taiwan authorities to attend the WHA meeting certainly no longer exist. Taiwan’s latest setback demonstrates several important facts. First, the island of Taiwan is not a country. It amuses itself by pretending to be a “sovereign and independent state,” but UN agencies don’t accept it at all. It must gain approval from the Chinese mainland in order to formerly participate in international organizations. It’s Beijing, rather than Washington, that has the final say over how much room the island will have for its international participation. Second, the one-China principle is one of the cornerstones for modern international relations. This is a universal international consensus that cannot be easily shaken. Even if the US and its Western allies want to challenge the principle, they cannot easily succeed as they have wished. In the case of a Beijing objection, if Taiwan authorities want to participate in the WHA meeting, some WHO member states need to submit a formal proposal that will be voted on by all members. The Western countries that the US is able to mobilize and all Taiwan “allies” together represent only a few dozen votes, while WHO has more than 190 members. Third, in the past few years, the US didn’t pay much attention to make an issue of Taiwan returning to the WHO. It offered verbal support for Taiwan last year, and this year roped in G7 to cause uproar.
–The Daily Mail-Global Times News Exchange Item
