Taiwan deserves a place at the annual World Health Assembly

Op-Ed

This week, delegates from World Health Organization (WHO) member states are gathering in Geneva for the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) -- and once again, this key meeting on global health priorities will exclude Taiwan. It is unconscionable, especially after the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) coverup of the COVID-19 pandemic, that the WHO is once again caving to pressure from the CCP to silence Taiwan in this important venue. As the world works to avoid future pandemics, there has never been a more important time to learn from Taiwan's global health expertise.

Taiwan previously participated as an observer at the WHA from 2009 to 2016, but since President Tsai Ing-wen was elected in Taiwan, the CCP has pressured the WHO to exclude Taiwan merely because the CCP dislikes her party. The CCP is shutting out the unique, valuable views of 23 million Taiwanese citizens at the WHO because it is an insecure regime that values control more than health.

The CCP's disregard for the rest of the international community was made blatantly obvious in its coverup of COVID-19 origins. My report on the origins of COVID-19 found that the CCP actively engaged in a full-scale coverup designed to hide public health information, obfuscate data, and silence anyone who tried to warn the world of the impending crisis. The CCP's influence over the WHO was also apparent during the pandemic's early stages, when WHO leadership parroted CCP talking points and failed to hold the CCP accountable for obscuring the truth.

Taiwan's reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, exemplified its expertise in global health. In fact, at the start of the outbreak, Taiwan tried to warn the world that the virus might be transmissible between humans only for the CCP to silence Taiwan. Taiwan even donated millions of pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to countries around the world, shared timely data on the virus' progression, and donated to global vaccine developments, all while maintaining a relatively low caseload despite its proximity to China. Meanwhile, the CCP blatantly blocked vaccine imports to Taiwan, pushed its own less effective vaccine, and lied about its own caseload. The world has suffered deaths and collapsing economies from the CCP's obfuscation but benefited from Taiwan's donations and global health best practices. Yet, it is the CCP with a voice at the WHA, and not Taiwan. There is much more the world could learn from Taiwan's experts if they were included in these discussions.

Not only does Taiwan deserve a voice for the world to learn from its successes, but it is also essential for the U.S. to support partners like Taiwan at these meetings to ensure that there is a strong coalition pushing for the CCP's accountability on the pandemic. The exclusion of Taiwan from the WHA is an example of the CCP's outsized influence in the broader United Nations system. The U.S. is by far the largest financial contributor to the UN, and yet the CCP has mastered manipulating the system to bend the global rules-based order to silence critics and legitimize its authoritarian agenda, no doubt by threatening to pull current or future loans and grants from in-need countries. The U.S. must do more to counter malign CCP influence throughout the UN system -- and we can start by standing up more decisively for Taiwan's inclusion at the WHA.

That is one of the reasons why I authored the Taiwan Assurance Act, enacted in December 2020, which establishes U.S. policy to advocate for Taiwan's meaningful participation at the WHA. Congress also passed the TAIPEI Act in 2020, which calls for the U.S. to advocate for Taiwan's observer status in appropriate international organizations, even in cases where it does not qualify for membership. The intent of Congress is clear -- the administration, including the State Department, must make every effort possible, including in diplomatic engagements and multilateral meetings and documents, to ensure that Taiwan has a voice at multilateral fora. I will keep working with my colleagues to ensure that Congress takes all necessary action to support this goal.

Enabling the CCP's authoritarian agenda to exclude a global health leader from participating in the WHO after its disastrous and deadly coverup of COVID-19 origins is a grave mistake that affects the world's health and calls into question whether the WHO is truly "dedicated to the well-being of all people", as its mission statement claims. If the WHO is truly committed to enacting reforms, increasing transparency, and protecting the well-being of all people, then step one is restoring Taiwan's observer status at the WHA and ensuring 23 million people in Taiwan have a voice at this important international forum.

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