The Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) decided in Geneva on Monday to reject the proposal of inviting Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer.
While discussing the provisional agenda at the 109th session of the WHO Executive Board which started here on Monday, the representative of Cuba said Taiwan is part of China and that the proposal of inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA should not be included as an item into the provisional agenda of the WHA.
The WHO Executive Board adopted the motion proposed by Cuba with a vote of 20-3.
Sha Zukang, ambassador of China's Permanent Mission in Geneva, said, "The Chinese government resolutely rejects the proposal of inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer and opposes the inclusion of the proposal as an item into the provisional agenda of the WHA."
He said it is the first time that the Taiwan issue is raised at the Executive Board meeting of the WHO. He said, "This is really a misfortune for the WHO. The Chinese delegation cannot but express its regret over this new development."
The proposal of "inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer" has been rejected each year at the Assembly of the World Health Organization in the past five years.
The Chinese ambassador said, "The WHO is a specialized UN agency and only sovereign states are eligible for its membership. Taiwan, as a province of China, has no qualification whatsoever to participate in the WHA."
Sha said, "Taiwan became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year. But WHO is not WTO."
He said Taiwan has been admitted in the WTO with the status of "Chinese Taipei separate customs territory" but not as a sovereign state.
Sha said the Taiwan question is purely an internal affair of China and should only be resolved by the Chinese people themselves. No foreign country has the right to meddle or interfere in it.
"To raise a proposal on Taiwan's participation in the WHO, under whatever pretext or in whatever form, is an act of infringement upon the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and an act of interference in the internal affairs of China, " said the Chinese ambassador.
(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2002)
