Mon, May 23, 2005 page3

• MAC poll shows people upset at China

  • By Melody Chen / STAFF REPORTER
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  A government poll published yesterday showed that 87 percent of respondents opposed China's claim that Taiwan is not qualified to seek observer status in the World Health Organization (WHO).

  The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and National Chengchi University's Center for China Studies carried out the poll last Thursday and Friday, after the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's top decision-making body, rejected Taiwan's ninth application to become an observer.

  Chinese Minister of Health Gao Qiang (高強), who headed China's delegation to the WHA, which opened in Geneva on May 16, spoke against Taiwan's bid for observership in the assembly.

  

  Experts and officials attend a press conference analyzing results of the poll carried out by the Mainland Affairs Council and National Chengchi University.

  PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

  Gao said Taiwan is a part of China, and is therefore not qualified to be a WHO observer. If Taiwan wants to participate in the WHA, Gao added, it should send health professionals to join China's delegation to the assembly and these Taiwanese experts shall be designated as delegates from "Taiwan, China."

  Nearly 80 percent of respondents to the poll rejected the idea of sending health experts to join the Chinese delegation to the WHA under the title "Taiwan, China."

  MAC Vice Chairman David Huang (黃偉峰), who attended a press conference analyzing results of the poll, said Beijing's "wishful thinking" about Taiwan participating in the WHO as part of China "has severely damaged Taiwan's dignity in the international community."

  China, in commenting on Taiwan's WHO bid, denied the fact that the Republic of China (ROC) is a sovereign state and that the ROC and China do not belong to each other, Huang said.

  The poll showed that 67.8 percent of the respondents agreed that the ROC is a sovereign country and that the ROC and China do not belong to each other.

  "There is high-level consensus among the Taiwanese people over what the current cross-strait status quo is. The present cross-strait status quo is that China and the ROC do not belong to each other," Huang said.

  Sixty-seven percent of the respondents said they are dissatisfied with Taiwan's current status in the international community.

  People in Taiwan are aware that the genial cross-strait atmosphere that Beijing created by inviting leaders of Taiwan's opposition parties to visit China "lasted only temporarily," Huang said.

  More than 57 percent of respondents to the poll said they believe the Chinese authorities are unfriendly to the government. The figure is 10 percentage points higher than that in a similar poll the MAC conducted on May 4.

  Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) visited China at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) earlier this month.

  The public in Taiwan knows that China, which is good at playing a "two-faced strategy," has never relented its merciless oppression of Taiwan, added Huang.

  Beijing's efforts to create a cordial atmosphere between Taiwan and China by inviting Lien and Soong to visit China, noted Huang, have not changed the Taiwanese people's intention to maintain the cross-strait status quo.

  The poll showed the Taiwanese people are firmly opposed to China exerting pressure on other countries to block Taiwan's participation in international organizations, the official said.
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