GENEVA, May 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The 57th World
Health Assembly's (WHA) General Committee decided on Monday
not to include on the agenda a proposal to invite Taiwan to
participate as an observer in the WHA, the supreme
decision-making body for the World Health Organization
(WHO).
Taiwan's attempt to access
the WHO failed again when WHA Chairman Mohammad Nasir Khan,
who is also the Pakistani health minister, announced the
decision which is the consensus of the 25-member WHA General
Committee.
This is the eighth
successive failure since 1997 of similar proposals by the
Taiwan authorities and tabled by a few WHO member states.
There's no legal ground and reason for
inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA, said Gao Qiang,
Chinese executive vice minister of health.
The Taiwan-related proposal, tabled by a few
countries like Solomon Islands, runs counter to
international law and WHO principles and regulations, said
Gao, who is head of the Chinese delegation at the 57th WHA,
held from Monday to Saturday at the Palais des Nations in
Geneva, Switzerland.
Since the Chinese
Mainland has actively carried out technical exchanges and
cooperation with Taiwan, approved WHO to dispatch several
groups of experts to inspect the situation of the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Taiwan, and allowed
Taiwan health and medical experts to attend technical
meetings convened by WHO, Taiwan has no difficulties in
getting information from WHOand carrying out technical
exchanges with it, he said.
The
true purpose of the Taiwan authorities, Gao said, is not
toserve the interests of the health of the people in Taiwan,
but to create "two Chinas" or "One China, One
Taiwan", to politicize the health issue and to
internationalize the Taiwan issue.
The
Taiwan-related proposal was opposed by most member states of
WHO. Representatives of 31 countries, including Russia,
Egypt, Laos, Brazil, South Africa, Chile, Iran and Tanzania,
delivered speeches at the meeting in support of China's
opposition.
They spoke highly of China's
sincerity and efforts in actively carrying out exchanges
across the Taiwan straits and in helping Taiwan to attain
WHO's information and support.
They
also expressed determination in firmly sticking to the
One-China principle and their opposition to including the
Taiwan-related proposal in the WHA agenda.