Taiwan blames China for WHO invite snub

TAIPEI: Taiwan said on Tuesday it had been excluded from a major World Health Organisation meeting for the first time in eight years and blamed rival China for the snub as relations worsen.

Delegates attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva later this month were supposed to receive their invites by Monday.

Taiwan, which is fighting international marginalisation as Beijing puts pressure on its allies, said it had not received one.

“Mainland China pressured the WHO and blocked it from issuing us an invitation... we express strong dissatisfaction and protest,” the island’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.

Under Ma, Taiwan was granted “observer status” at the WHA in 2009 — a rare acknowledgement on the global stage. But since Tsai took the helm, Beijing has sought to block the island from a string of international events. China reiterated on Tuesday that Taiwan must accept the “one China” principle and said if it did not, it would not be welcomed into international forums.

“We’ve stressed many times that in dealing with Taiwan’s participation in international organisations’ activities, the ‘one China’ principle must be respected,” said Geng Shuang, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry. Taiwan’s health minister has said he will lead a delegation to Switzerland anyway, despite the lack of an invite.

But Geng said any measures taken by Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party were “doomed to fail”.

World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said the issue was still “under discussion” among all parties, leaving some room for Taiwan to attend the meet.