‘NOT CHINA’: Taiwan can provide valuable professional and practical contributions that the WHO can use in assisting other countries’ disease-prevention efforts
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 22, 2020
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter
Lawmakers across party lines yesterday issued a joint statement calling for Taiwan’s participation in
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Chiung-ying speaks behind a placard that reads: WHO needs Taiwan, and Taiwan needs WHO” during a national affairs forum yesterday at the legislature in Taipei.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Given Taiwan’s proximity to China, the nation should be allowed to participate in the WHO and the WHA to safeguard public health and allow it to work more closely with other nations in containing COVID-19, the statement said.
The WHO has a vision of a world where all people can attain the highest possible standard of health, and that no one should be left behind in the pursuit of the universal value of guaranteeing health for all, it said.
As such, the WHO should resolutely defend its mission and not allow China to compromise the rights of Taiwanese to enjoy the highest level of health and sanitation because of political reasons, or erroneously designate Taiwan as part of China, which has prompted some countries to impose entry or port call bans on Taiwan, it said. [FULL STORY]
