Taiwan officials want meaningful participation in world health body

This article was written by Shih Ying-ying and published by the Taiwan Journal on May 19, 2006. It reports that various government agencies have been working together to promote Taiwan's bid in 2006 to have "meaningful participation" in the World Health Organization. In 2006, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken a more practical approach and is focusing its efforts on seeking "meaningful participation" in all activities sponsored by the World Health Organization.

So far, the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan has passed seven resolutions in support of the government's bid to participate in the World Health Assembly as an observer.

According to the Department of Health, Taiwan has been a model member of the international health community by constantly offering assistance in disaster-stricken areas around the world. Taiwan has also taken the initiative to adopt the International Health Regulations, even though it is not required to do so.

In 2005, Taiwan asked to participate in 32 of the technical meetings sponsored by the World Health Organization. However, the nation was only granted permission to attend 14 of these meetings due to China's obstruction.

Worse, the United Nations recently decided to exclude Taiwanese journalists from reporting at the annual World Health Assembly because Taiwan is not a member of the international organization.

According to the Government Information Office, so far, a total of 354 opinion pieces on Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization have been published by newspapers and magazines around the world.