Taiwan Issue not Listed in World Health Assembly AgendaThe 53rd World Health Assembly (WHA) turned down in Geneva Monday a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate in the assembly as an observer and decided by consensus not to include the issue in the agenda of the week-long meetings of the ruling body of the World Health Organization (WHO).Speaking at the General Council meeting and the opening plenary session of the WHA, Chinese Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said that China strongly opposed the proposal tabled by the Solomon Islands and a few other countries. "The same proposal was put forward during the past three sessions of the WHA by a few countries, only to be defeated," he said. "The fact itself demonstrates that the overwhelming majority of the WHO member states are strongly against such a proposal." Zhang pointed out that Taiwan, as a province of China, is not qualified to participate either in any activities of the WHO in whatever form or name, or in any activities of the WHA in whatever name. "Instigated by the Taiwan authorities, a few countries are proposing to invite Taiwan to participate in the WHA. Such a proposal is legally groundless, not backed up by the minimum legal common sense. What they are doing dose not have the slightest degree of seriousness," Zhang said. "Taiwan issue is an internal affair of China," he stressed. "It should therefore be left solely to the Chinese people to solve it. No any other foreign country has the right to meddle or intervene. Any proposal under whatever pretext or argument to invite Taiwan to participate in the activities of the WHO in whatever form is out of a political motivation, attempting to create `two Chinas' or `one China, one Taiwan' in the international arena." Zhang said, "Such an act constitutes an encroachment of China's territorial integrity and sovereignty. The Chinese government and its people will by no means tolerate such an intervention or encroachment." Talking about the health issue of people living in Taiwan, Zhang told the meeting that the Chinese government has always attached great importance to the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the compatriots in Taiwan and is concerned with their health. "The Chinese government is ready to seek a mediated settlement to the relevant issues in the field of health through proper channels across the Taiwan Straits and to make appropriate arrangements for the exchanges in the field of health between the two sides," he said. As long as the Taiwan authorities abandon the wrongdoing of creating "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan" in the international arena and safeguard the unification of the motherland, relevant issues including the health one can be solved through consultations, according to Zhang. |
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