Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/12/2020
By Tang Pei-chun and Emerson Lim
Taipei/Brussels, May 12 (CNA) Taiwan on Tuesday took issue with a statement by the World Health Organization (WHO) the previous day, which said that it had "no mandate" from its members to invite Taiwan to the annual meeting of its decision-making body this year.
Based on precedent, the WHO has two avenues for inviting observers to attend the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) — through a resolution passed by the WHA or an invitation issued by the WHO director-general, Taiwan's foreign ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou (歐江安）said at a press conference.
She was responding to comments by WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon, who told reporters Monday that the WHO director-general could not invite Taiwan to join the WHA meeting this year as an observer without the consent of its members.
"To put it crisply, director-generals only extend invitations when it's clear that member states support doing so, that director-generals have a mandate, a basis to do so," Solomon said in an online press conference. "Today however, the situation is not the same. Instead of clear support, there are divergent views among member states and no basis there for — no mandate — for the DG to extend an invitation (to Taiwan)." [FULL STORY]