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Taiwan gets observer status at WHA

By Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-19 10:56

Taiwan attended a World Health Assembly (WHA) session as an observer for the first time in Geneva yesterday after 12 failed attempts in more than a decade.

Taiwan health chief Yeh Ching-chuan displays his identity card to the press before the start of the 62nd World Health Assembly in Geneva,May 18, 2009. The island was invited for the first time to the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO. [Agencies]

Yeh Ching-chuan, the island's health chief, led a 15-member delegation comprising health officials and experts to the five-day meeting of the World Health Organization's (WHO) top decision-making body that started yesterday, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

Related readings:  WHA move shows 'mainland's goodwill'  Mainland 'optimistic' about Taiwan attending WHA  WHA rejects Taiwan-related proposal  WHA rebuffs Taiwan move  Taiwan rejected to participate in WHA

It was also the first time in 38 years that Taiwan has participated in a meeting hosted by a UN agency since the island lost its UN membership in 1971.

Philip K. T. Chou, general counsel of the Taipei county government who was attending a cross-Straits exchange forum in Fuzhou yesterday, called the event "great news".

"This is not only good for the Taiwan people but also for people across the Straits," he said.

Yeh was quoted by CNA as saying that he expects a "good and friendly exchange" with Minister of Health Chen Zhu, in what will be a historic meeting of the two sides on such a platform. The first day of the meeting focused on the prevention and control of H1N1 flu.

Liou Song-siang, a senior official of the People First Party in Taiwan, said it was not easy for Taiwan to "finally have a chance" to attend the WHA event .

"Taiwan has been hoping for this day for so many years," he said.

The island started its bid to join the WHO in 1997, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) tried to apply for membership as "the Republic of China" every year after it took power in 2000.

The move aimed to create "two Chinas" and of course would never be tolerated, said Wu Nengyuan, director of the Fujian-based Institute of Taiwan Studies.

But since last year, when the Kuomintang Party won the leadership election, it started to revise policies to ease tensions across the Taiwan Straits.

Direct flights, shipping and postal services have been launched, and Taiwan has opened it tourism and investment markets to the mainland.

When Taiwan applied in April to attend the WHA under the name "Chinese Taipei", the mainland helped the island in the application process, Wu said.

But Wu stressed that it is too early to resolve all issues regarding Taiwan's participation in international forums.

"The two sides could find proper ways for Taiwan to attend events which involve issues concerning people's livelihood," he said.

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