Taipei, May 22 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Monday rejected Beijing's claim that the "one-China principle" is the prerequisite for Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA).
The World Health Organization's (WHO's) decision to invite Taiwan to attend the WHA between 2009 and 2016 was based on Taiwan's needs, international support for Taiwan, and goodwill demonstrated by both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said in a statement.
The MOFA dismissed as totally unfactual China's claim that the invitation was in line with the "one-China principle" as reflected in United Nations Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1.
It stressed that the two resolutions are unrelated to Taiwan's WHO participation and cannot solve the right to health of Taiwan's 23 million people.
The MOFA issued the statement after China reportedly sent a letter to the permanent missions in Geneva of various countries, in which it said that the "Chinese government has decided that Taiwan, province of China, shall not participate in the 70th World Health Assembly."
According to a copy of the letter obtained by the local Liberty Times daily, China said Taiwan has attended the WHA for the last eight years "with the consent of the Chinese government" and that this special arrangement, made through cross-Taiwan Strait consultation, "was only possible because of the peaceful development of cross-strait relations."
Taiwan first attended the WHA meeting as an observer in 2009, a year after former President Ma Ying-jeou came to power and pursued a more conciliatory policy toward Beijing.
Taiwan has taken part in every WHA meeting since then, until this year.
Its exclusion is widely seen as the latest move by China to clamp down on Taiwan's participation in international events, a strategy that has become more aggressive since President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who is less conciliatory toward China, came to power in May 2016.
Unlike Ma, Tsai refuses to explicitly recognize the "1992 consensus," which essentially implies that China and Taiwan are part of "one China."
In a news conference held in Geneva on Sunday, the head of the Chinese delegation to the WHA, Li Bin, reaffirmed the "1992 consensus" as the prerequisite for Taiwan's WHA participation, and accused the DPP of setting a barrier to Taiwan's participation by refusing to recognize that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to "one China," according to a report by China's official Xinhua news agency.
