MOFA thanks allies, US for backing Taiwan’s WHO participation

2020/05/05

Staunch support from allies and the U.S. for Taiwan’s participation in the activities, meetings and mechanisms of the World Health Organization is sincerely appreciated by the government and people, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said May 3.
 
 Such strong backing underscores the legitimacy and urgency of Taiwan’s WHO inclusion, the ministry said. The government will continue to seek meaningful engagement in the U.N. agency while ensuring the right of its 23 million people to take part in global health-related activities, it added.
 
 The MOFA’s response follows an April 29 teleconference between permanent representatives to the U.N. from Taiwan’s allies and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
 
 Led by Giampaolo Rizzo from Honduras, the group requested that Dr. Tedros invite Taiwan to the 73rd World Health Assembly—the WHO’s decision-making body—and all meetings related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
 Describing such an invitation as “the right thing to do,” Rizzo asserted via a tweet on his official Twitter account that no one should be left behind from the international disease-fighting network.
 
 Similar sentiment was also voiced by the U.S. Mission to the U.N. Barring Taiwan from setting foot on U.N. grounds is an affront to the people of Taiwan and the organization’s principles, it said in a May 1 tweet.
 
 Other tweets released May 1-2 by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs invited the world to use the hashtag #TweetforTaiwan to show support for Taiwan’s attendance at the upcoming WHA.
 
“The U.S. believes firmly that Taiwan belongs at the table when the world discusses COVID-19 and other threats to global health,” the bureau said. It is time to tell the WHO the world needs Taiwan and its expertise in the fight, it added.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)