The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday questioned the manner in which Taiwan was invited to participate in this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), urging the government to give a clear explanation of Taiwan’s status in the world health body.
On Wednesday, Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said he received a fax from WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍) on Tuesday night inviting Taiwan to attend the annual assembly this month under the name “Chinese Taipei.” It would be Taiwan’s first attendance at a meeting held by a UN specialized agency since the Republic of China forfeited its UN membership in 1971.
The pan-green camp has argued that the invitation should be issued by WHO member states and not the director-general, and has accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of eroding Taiwan’s sovereignty in exchange for concessions from China.
“In all honesty, [Taiwan’s invitation to the WHA] is a step forward, but the government must not be too content, because it has always been Taiwan’s right to be part of the WHO. Therefore it is most definitely not a goodwill gesture from Beijing,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee yesterday.
“China has Taiwan firmly by the throat. From now on, every move we make will be dictated by Beijing’s whims,” he said, adding that unless the issue of Taiwan’s WHA admittance was put to a vote in the assembly, Taiwan’s participation would have to be approved by Beijing on an annual basis.
The arrangement of Taiwan’s participation in the WHA does not follow any of the three options listed in the procedures of the assembly, which meant that Ma must have made deals outside the official protocol by selling out Taiwan’s sovereignty, DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said, urging the Ma administration to “stop lying to the public.”
In response, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Hsia (夏立言) said no secret deals had been made and that the ministry expected Taiwan’s participation would continue on a yearly basis.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), a former foreign minister, also expressed doubts at the Foreign and National Defense Committee meeting, saying the government should not be too pleased with itself.
For example, he said, since the WHO uses several languages for official purposes, there was concern that the international community may misinterpret the reference to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei” (中華台北) in the English invitation as meaning “Taipei, China” (中國台北).
A solution would be to request the WHO secretariat to issue a Chinese-language invitation as well, “to clarify what our title is in Chinese,” he said.
Chiang also said the recipient’s address on the invitation letter was questionable.
“What is the recipient’s country, Taiwan or Republic of China?” he asked, adding there might be hidden conditions because the WHO had omitted the recipient’s country on the envelope.
“I would not force you to answer on this,” Chiang said to Hsia during the session. “But the two sides of the Taiwan Strait must have discussed this, and Taiwan can only accept that now in order to attend the assembly.”
Chiang said that referring to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei” in the letter of invitation meant that “the invitation did not violate Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) insistence on its ‘one China’ principle.’”
Chiang said that as a former diplomat he sincerely congratulated the government on the breakthrough, but added that the possibility of a hidden agenda should not be ignored.
DPP Legislator Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) meanwhile lashed out at Ma for attributing the invitation to the “goodwill of the mainland authorities” before mentioning support from the international community.
This was not only indicative of the government’s eagerness to curry favor with China, but also a slight to Taiwanese sovereignty and dignity, Twu said.
On Wednesday, Ma said the government’s efforts had finally yielded results, saying three key factors had led to the invitation: the efforts of the public and all political parties, the goodwill of China and strong support from the international community, including the US, Japan, the EU, Southeast Asian countries, New Zealand and Australia.
Chinese Health Ministry Spokesman Mao Qunan (毛群安) said on Wednesday that the arrangement was a sign of growing cross-strait rapprochement and an indication of China’s “goodwill.”
Twu said it was ridiculous for Ma, in his capacity as president, to praise China for making a goodwill gesture by allowing the nation to participate in the WHA when obstruction from China that Taiwan had been behind Taiwan’s inability to participate in the WHA in the past.
“Why should we thank a hooligan that used to bully us every day just because he has not bullied us as harshly as before or because we changed our name?” Twu said.
Ma, however, said yesterday that Taiwan’s participation in the WHA under the name “Chinese Taipei” would not diminish Taiwan’s status, as the outcome outweighed details such as the national title used in the assembly.
At a press conference at the Presidential Office yesterday, Ma said the name Taiwan would use, Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北), was the same as its designation at the WTO and APEC.
Zhonghua Taibei is the Chinese translation for “Chinese Taipei.”
“It is not Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北), which literally means ‘China, Taipei,’” Ma said. “More importantly, we participate with dignity, flexibility, practicality and autonomy.”
While some have criticized the annual application for WHA observer status, Ma said all partcipants in the WHA received annual invitations, whether they are considered countries, groups, WHO members or observers.
At a separate setting yesterday, DPP Caucus Whip Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) said the latest development was not the “major breakthrough” the government claimed, because it came at the expense of Taiwan’s agreement to Beijing’s “one China” framework and acceptance of the arrangement in the memorandum of understanding signed between China and the WHO in 2005 to treat Taiwan as under China’s jurisdiction.
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