Taiwan pinned its hopes on the World Health Assembly meeting coronavirus pandemic news

Taipei, Taiwan -Taiwan and its supporters have been working hard to see it return to the World Health Assembly as an observer. The governing body of the World Health Organization will meet on May 24. The World Health Assembly is the governing body of the World Health Organization.

Taiwan has successfully dealt with Covid-19 for more than a year, and half a year has brought renewed attention to Taiwan’s absence of WHA, which has not participated since the election of President Tsai Ing-Wen in 2016.

US lawmakers have often asked Taiwan to return as an observer in the past few years, but this time G7 has given Taiwan support, and this year’s coordinated social media campaign with the theme of #LetTaiwanHelp has been expanded to include lawmakers from Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. .

At the end of April, 16 members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance of China (IPAC) released campaign videos, urging the WHA to invite Taiwan to participate. At the same time, there was a surge in tweets from members of the US Congress and the US State Department.

“In the past, Congress’ efforts were mainly focused on sending letters to the WHO, the executive branch or foreign capitals requesting support for Taiwan’s accession. However, this year there are more public channels, so the scope of influence is broader.” The 2049 project in the United States Said Jessica Drun, a non-resident researcher at the institute.

“This attracted parliamentarians from all over the world and from all parties. She was also able to grow organically on social media platforms, which led to the speeches of other leaders, public figures and activists.”

Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tian Zhongguang said that the government will continue to hope to issue an invitation before the last minute because it will use the #LetTaiwanHelp hashtag to gain support and the new #TaiwanIsHelping hashtag to promote donations. Oxygen tanks and other medical supplies are sold to India and other severely affected countries.

#LetTaiwanHelp

Ye Qingchuan participated in the World Health Assembly as an observer when he was Minister of Health in 2009. He said that at that time, about 15 experts from Taiwan participated in the scientific conference and gave lectures on topics including the island’s successful national insurance plan.

Yeh said: “This is a short meeting.”

“The World Health Assembly only had two days, and then a scientific meeting was held, but it is meaningful to participate. For those countries that have no diplomatic relations with Taiwan, they are still interested in certain areas, and even after returning, they still contact our experts. “

A grand meeting with Taiwan’s Minister Chen discussed the ongoing pandemic and global health issues. The United States supports Taiwan’s ability to obtain vaccines, its contribution to health and safety, and the restoration of its observer status in Taiwan. #World Health Assembly #LetTaiwanHelp pic.twitter.com/xC4cPoFSZm

— HHS Global Affairs Office (@HHS_Global) May 21, 2021

#HRBC As the chairman of CTPFG, I would like to congratulate the chairman @iingwen She celebrated her first anniversary

Taiwan is facing the challenge of a surge in the coronavirus, which shows that the disease knows no borders. Taiwan needs to be included in the World Health Organization.

-Judy SgroMP (@JudySgroMP) May 20, 2021

Medical experts may be eager to hear from the Taiwan delegation how it handles and mainly contains information about COVID-19.

As of this month, the island has had fewer than 1,200 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths, although the infection rate in Taipei and New Taipei City is now climbing. The previous outbreak was related to an outbreak that occurred with a group of China Airlines pilots in early May.

Taiwan was originally officially called the Republic of China. It was originally China’s representative to the WHO and the World Health Assembly, but one year after Beijing formally joined the United Nations, Taiwan was expelled from the organization in 1972.

From 2009 to 2016, Taiwan was invited to participate in the observer meeting during Ma Ying-jeou’s friendly presidential term, but once Tsai took office, the proposal was revoked.

new friend

Since her election, Beijing’s claim that it is its own island has promoted Taiwan’s international presence and participation, even in non-political organizations such as the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Since Tsai took office as President, the number of countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan has also decreased. Currently, only 15 countries recognize Taipei’s status in Beijing.

however, People are increasingly worried about China’s influence in Europe, which has also brought Taiwan new allies. In unlikely places, including Lithuania, the Czech Republic and the European Parliament.

Under pressure from China, Taiwan has not been able to participate in WHA since 2016.It is working hard to lobby for this year’s conference [File: Christopher Black/World Health Organization via AFP]

Before the World Health Assembly, the Czech Senate passed a resolution requiring Taiwan to participate in “all meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the World Health Organization, while Lithuanian and Czech legislators and representatives from 10 other European countries sat on the IPAC .

“A few years ago, Taiwan was neither regarded as one of the major players in the European Asian strategy, nor as one of the major players in other countries. [individual] Strategy. Obviously, this is due to the development of Hong Kong, Xinjiang, the coronavirus pandemic, and the US government’s attention to island countries. “Ivana Karásková, a Chinese researcher at the Prague Association for International Affairs and project coordinator, said.

“In terms of practical significance, it may not change Taiwan’s isolation in international organizations and forums, but it clearly shows that countries are willing to engage with Taiwan.”