Taiwan foreign ministry has reportedly said that Taiwan didn’t get invited to a key World Health Organization (WHO) meeting this week expected to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic due to obstruction from China.
Late on Sunday, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said the island had yet to get an invite to the virtual meeting of 194 member states.
He said: “The Foreign Ministry expresses strong regret and dissatisfaction at China’s obstruction of Taiwan participating in the WHO and the WHO’s continuing to neglect the health and human rights of Taiwan’s 23.5 million people.”
The WHO’s refusal to invite Taiwan based on political considerations makes a mockery of the body’s “health for all” claim, the ministry said.
Lat week the U.S. mission in Geneva urged WHO chief to invite Taiwan to the WHO’s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly (WHA).
The WHO says it is up to member states whether to invite Taiwan, which has been praised internationally for quickly containing the coronavirus, to observe the WHA meeting.
It said that it cooperates with Taiwan on various health matters including on aspects of the pandemic and that the island has been provided with the help it needs.
