Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen (file photo)

Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen tweeted nine times for Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA) and claimed that "health issues don't stop at the border," but experts said she was playing politics to gain sympathy.

E-registration to the WHA ends on Monday, but Taiwan has yet to receive an invitation. Tsai has posted repeatedly on her Facebook and Twitter accounts, explaining that "Taiwan should not be excluded from WHA this year for any reason. Health issues don't stop at border and Taiwan's role is impt (important) to global health."

The Xinhua News Agency reported that Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration should bear full responsibility for the island's absence from this year's WHA, a Chinese mainland spokesperson said Monday.

"The DPP administration refuses to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle. This places an obstacle to Taiwan's participation in the WHA," An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said.

An urged the DPP administration to reflect on why Taiwan is unable to attend this year's WHA, saying that any attempt to pass the buck or shift public focus would fail.

"Tsai and her DPP administration's political stance is sacrificing the interests of the Taiwan people. The one-China principle will never change, and if she really cares about the Taiwan people, she needs to change her attitude rather than blame the mainland. The one-China principle is the key to solving almost every problem in Taiwan, but Tsai refuses to recognize it," Wang Jianmin, a Taiwan-affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

"Tsai is also trying to generate false sympathy from the island's people and international community by saying that Taiwan's health affairs would be damaged if the WHA refuses to invite Taiwan. But Taiwan's health issues won't be affected at all," Yuan Peng, vice president of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said.

The island can only participate when it respects the one-China principle and the Chinese mainland allows its participation as part of China, Yuan said.

"Taiwan still can join other non-political health organizations. Therefore, it is a political issue rather than a health issue," he said.