Taiwan is campaigning furiously to attend the next World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting to be held from May 18 as the island’s successful coronavirus containment strategy has attracted the world’s attention.
China, which claims Taiwan as its province with no right to its own diplomatic representation on the global stage and in international organizations. The WHA is the decision making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency.
Taiwan joined WHA meetings as an observer from 2009 to 2016, when a president deemed to be friendly with China held office. It had campaigned for years before its inclusion at the time.
This time, Taiwan said it has not been receiving first-hand information from the WHO on the coronavirus outbreak, putting the health of Taiwanese at risk.
But that didn’t stop the self-ruled island just across a narrow strait from China from executing a plan using early detection, border controls and intensive contract tracing that has won plaudits the world over. Taiwan wants an observer seat at the next WHA meeting.
Admitting Taiwan to the WHA “will be an occasion where Taiwan can share our experience in areas such as testing, diagnosis, border control, and community outbreak prevention. To avoid a repeat of the current pandemic and effectively ensure global health security, the world must take action to improve communication and transparency,” Chen Shih-chung, Taiwan’s Minister of Health and Welfare said in a statement.
Despite the lack of diplomatic allies, voices from a number of countries have come out to back Taiwan’s participation in the meeting. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has lobbied for Taiwan’s inclusion in the meeting. Other countries expressing their support include Japan and New Zealand.
To date, Taiwan – which has not implemented any strict lockdowns or school closures – has reported just 440 cases and seven deaths so far in its population of 24 million. In comparison, South Korea has reported almost 11,000 cases so far while Singapore in Southeast Asia has recorded over 20,000 cases.
