Fri, Sep 26, 2008 page3

• US reiterates support for WHA role

  IN WRITING Despite a letter backing Taiwan’s attempts to obtain WHA observer status, Washington remains opposed to membership in organizations requiring statehood

  • By Charles Snyder / STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
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  The administration of US President George W. Bush has reiterated its support for Taiwan’s participation in the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer.

  It has also expressed the “hope” that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) overtures to China will help advance that goal.

  The administration did so in a letter to Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, in reply to a letter that Brown and four other senators sent to Bush last month expressing disappointment over the White House’s failure to push Taiwan’s case at the global health body.

  “The administration fully supports the objective of granting Taiwan observer status in the WHA,” said the letter, dated Sept. 10 and signed by a mid-level State Department official.

  The Taipei Times obtained a copy of the letter on Wednesday.

  In their original letter, the senators noted their “regret” that the administration had not found ways to help Taiwan obtain observer status.

  “Very little progress” has been made in complying with a law Congress passed in 2001 calling on the secretary of state to devise and implement a plan to get Taiwan to sit in on WHA meetings and deliberations as an observer, the letter said.

  “We are concerned that the recent report by the State Department to Congress regarding Taiwan’s participation in the WHO [the WHA’s parent organization] did not mention any administration initiatives in this regard,” it said.

  That annual report is required by the 2001 law and another law passed in 2004 that also calls on the US to sponsor resolutions at the WHA meeting.

  The US has not yet sponsored such a resolution, and the latest two reports largely ignored the laws’ mandates.

  In its letter to Brown, the administration noted that at the last WHA meeting in May, the US “pursued this goal” when the question of Taiwan’s status was unsuccessfully considered.

  Next year’s strategy will be the first devised by the Ma administration, since this year’s vote came on the same day he was inaugurated, and the strategy was set by the previous government.

  Under Ma’s administration, the letter said, “there are opportunities for renewed cross-Strait dialogue on matters involving Taiwan’s international space. We hope that dialogue will lead to a more positive environment for advancing Taiwan’s public health interests and participation in the work of the WHO, including WHA observer status.”

  However, the US maintains its opposition to Taiwan’s full membership in international organizations, such as the UN and the WHO, which require statehood for membership.

  “Consistent with our one China policy, we fully support Taiwan’s participation in the work of international organizations where its membership is not possible,” the letter said, in a clear reference to this policy.

  Brown, a former co-chairman of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus in the House before he was elected to the Senate, has long been the strongest advocate in Congress of Taiwan participating in the WHA.
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