Newsweek
Date: 5/13/20
By: Tom O'CVonnor
The coronavirus pandemic has intensified the seven-decade conflict between China and Taiwan, a breakaway state supported by the United States but having little international recognition as the mainland government seeks to assert its rule there.
A report published Tuesday by the congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission accused the Chinese government of having "undermined global health" by exerting influence and pressure to ensure the exclusion of Taiwan from the World Health Organization (WHO). The self-ruling island has claimed it sounded the alarm early on about the dangers of the virus as it spread through China's central city of Wuhan late last year, only to be sidelined because of its unofficial political status.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian lashed out at the report in a press briefing Wednesday, arguing that Beijing has "made proper arrangement for the Taiwan region's participation in global health affairs." He also said that "the Taiwan region is never excluded from the WHO global anti-epidemic system."
Zhao accused Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progress Party of making "reckless political maneuvers" throughout the pandemic to enhance the island government's participation in international institutions like the WHO. [FULL STORY]