Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-22

Taiwan’s health minister, Chen Shih-chung, met with his US counterpart in Geneva

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price met with Taiwan’s Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (CNA)

on Sunday (local time). Chen said following the talks that he was “excited” about the prospects for working with the US on health and disease prevention measures.

Chen’s meeting with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price came one day ahead of the World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting. The governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO) has excluded Taiwan from participating this year despite the fact that it has been an observer since 2009. This year’s exclusion is being seen as a move by Beijing to limit Taiwan’s international participation under President Tsai Ing-wen.

Chen described the 45 minute discussion with Price as very friendly. During the meeting he spoke about Taiwan’s contributions to fighting H7N9 bird flu. He said that China’s lack of transparency about the epidemic had made it necessary for Taiwan to rely on other countries for assistance. Chen said that the United States had agreed that the situation had led to a global and regional gap in epidemic prevention.    [FULL  STORY]