News Reference Material
Date: May 23, 2022
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today (May 23, 2022) solemnly protested the inappropriate comments and obstruction of Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA) by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) Taiwan Affairs Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and their representatives. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign state. Taiwan has never been part of the People's Republic of China even for a day from the perspectives of history, international law, or cross-Strait realities. The ROC (Taiwan) government expressed strong displeasure over mainland China's repeated suppression of Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) and aggressive use of distorted lies to mislead the international community.
The MAC stressed that Taiwan's public health achievements are widely recognized, and we are willing to contribute to and participate in the international community in this regard. This has long been the expectation of the people of Taiwan. Facing the severe global pandemic today, the CCP authorities continue to let their wrongful political views come before the "right to health," and even falsely claimed that they have taken care of and made proper arrangements for the health and well-being of the people of Taiwan. This is a complete distortion of the facts and blatant disregards of the health rights of the people of Taiwan; meanwhile, it constitutes serious damage to global public health interests. It is entirely unhelpful to benign interaction between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The MAC indicated that the Beijing authorities undermine the rules of the international order by attempting to erroneously link resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and WHO with their "one China" principle. This is unacceptable to all. Currently, relevant national governments, parliaments, and international organizations have successively supported Taiwan's participation in the WHA. Taiwan's inclusion in the global public health system has become a consensus among democracies. The fact that the motion backing Taiwan’s participation was not included in the WHA agenda this time was entirely the result of the CCP’s arrogant obstruction. In the future, the government will continue to work unremittingly and actively seek friendly support in the international community and jointly respond to challenges of the global pandemic.