Taiwan’s bid for observer status in the WHO is often viewed as a key index of cross-strait relations, with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration constantly expressing optimism that it will succeed. However, the bid is full of worrying sugar-coated content.
Take the WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR), for example. Bernard Kean, executive director of the WHO’s Office of the Director-General, sent a letter to Taiwan’s top health official in January that proposed the inclusion of Taiwan in the implementation of the IHR.
As Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control stated in an English-language press release, concrete measures proposed by the WHO include accepting Taiwan’s point of contact; allowing direct communication and contact between the contact points of the WHO secretariat and Taiwan; providing Taiwan with a password to a secured event information site; dispatching experts to Taiwan and inviting Taiwan’s representatives to attend WHO emergency committees in the event of a public health emergency in Taiwan of international concern; and inviting Taiwan to nominate a health expert for the IHR roster.
Meanwhile, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has stated that Beijing highly values implementation of the IHR. Based on this, the Chinese government has negotiated with the WHO secretariat over an IHR application for the “Taiwan area.” In other words, arrangements involving Taiwan have to be approved by Beijing, and this approval can be withdrawn at anytime.
Information relating to Taiwan is filed as “Taiwan, China” at the WHO, and Taiwan’s eight major ports are considered Chinese ports. Taipei should have actively protested against this, but it surprisingly accepted the terms. In the face of public concern, Taiwan’s authorities are stressing that these developments represent Chinese goodwill and are diplomatic achievements.
For the Ma government, participation in the WHO is a priority. It therefore tends to report good news, stay silent on negative developments and refuse to look deeper into problems to avoid damaging cross-strait relations.
Allowing Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA) would fulfill Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) undertaking on Taiwan’s participation in WHO events, which would benefit China’s international propaganda campaign. More importantly, the move would undercut accusations that China restricts Taiwan’s international space.
But since Beijing can block Taipei’s participation at any time, it would hold even more power over Taipei.
For Taiwan, the only advantage in all this would be the chance of attending the five-day WHA meeting. However, the transmission of data on global health issues and disease prevention takes more than just five days; we must ask ourselves if it is worthwhile to end Taiwan’s efforts over the years and display this kind of goodwill to China in exchange for a mere five-day meeting. Since Beijing holds all the cards, we must also ask what would happen in succeeding years. Would Taiwan be excluded if it does not obey Beijing?
Observer status is better than isolation. But if obtaining this status depends on China’s assessment of how Taiwan is “behaving,” then members of the international community may come to believe that Taiwan’s international space should be determined by China.
The dangers are clear. The government must not look to ideology when trying to make diplomatic breakthroughs. It must not enter China’s framework and ignore the threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty that this will precipitate.
Chiang Huang-chih is an associate professor in the Department of Law at National Taiwan University.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to