China’s WHO veto sidelining Taiwan

GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Friday left open the possibility that Taiwan could still attend its coming annual assembly, saying talks are continuing despite China’s insistence that a delegation from the island must be excluded for the first time since 2009.

For now, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, who is from Hong Kong, “is not in a position to issue an invitation for Taiwanese observers to attend to the World Health Assembly” that starts May 22, said Dr. Tim Armstrong, who heads the WHO department of governing bodies.

But Armstrong told reporters that “negotiations are still ongoing,” adding, “Anything is possible.”

China has used its clout as one of five veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council to exclude Taiwan from the U.N. and other world bodies that require sovereign status for membership. China insists that the island is part of its territory.

Armstrong said that this year, no “cross-strait understanding” exists between Taiwan and China like ones that allowed Taiwan to send delegates since 2009, but that he had no details on why that was. Other U.N. member states have been supportive of Taiwan’s attendance.

Officials in Beijing said repeatedly over the previous week that no Taiwanese observer delegation will be allowed to attend the assembly this year. They said that’s because Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has declined to endorse Beijing’s view that Taiwan and China are part of a single Chinese nation.

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