WHO board throws out Taiwan-observer move
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-18 00:06

The 57th World Health Assembly's (WHA) General Committee decided Monday not to include on the agenda a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate as an observer in the WHA, the supreme decision-making body for the World Health Organization (WHO).

Taiwan's attempt to access the WHO failed again when WHA Chairman Mohammad Nasir Khan, who is also the Pakistani health minister, announced the decision reached by consensus of the 25-member WHA General Committee.

This is the eighth such proposal put forth by Taiwan authorities and tabled by WHA members since 1997.

There's no legal ground and reason for inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA, said Gao Qiang, Chinese executive vice-minister of health.

The Taiwan-related proposal, tabled by a few countries like Solomon Islands, runs counter to international law and WHO principles and regulations, said Gao, who is head of the Chinese delegation at the 57th WHA, which opened Monday and lasts until Saturday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

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