Parliamentary Diplomacy of Taiwan in Comparative Perspective Book contents
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2023
Summary
In 1997, the WHO rejected Taiwan's application for observer status. The issue was hotly debated among WHO member states. Arguments against accepting Taiwan were all of a dubious political nature based on a biased interpretation of Taiwan's international status in relation to that of the People's Republic of China. As a result, the 22 million people of Taiwan remain unrepresented at WHO, and unjustifiable political pressure has undermined the health objectives for which WHO was established. From a health professional's perspective, Taiwan's admission to WHO is not a political question, rather, it is a technical issue that encompasses all elements of public-health practice worldwide. If international borders are not a barrier to the transmission of diseases … then they should not be made into barriers to the free movement of cures and international health cooperation.
Exclusion from international bodies only enhances the risk of importation of newly emerging and deadly infectious diseases into the island. The HIV-1 pandemic taught us that there are many more threatening infectious agents in the world. What would happen if a mutant and deadly influenza virus reaches Taiwan or starts out from it? Taiwan's medical profession is handicapped to deal with such events since it has no official mechanism by which to approach WHO for assistance in an expedient manner. (Jiang, 1998)
The excerpt of this letter to The Lancet, a renowned medical journal, has turned out to be prophetic, because only five years after its publication, Taiwan was among the three countries most affected by the SARS outbreak between 2002 and 2004 (McNeil Jr., 2003; WHO, 2003). The authorities in Taipei were convinced that assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO) would have helped Taiwan in dealing with the outbreak, but requests for help were in vain (Chien, 2003). The problem Taiwan has been facing stems from the fact that very few countries recognize it. Consequently, Taiwan is blocked from participating in international governmental institutions, some, such as the WHO, being of vital importance to Taiwan. Even though a real population lives in Taiwan, which deals with real problems and faces real challenges, they are considered and treated as second-class citizens in the contemporary international community.
States are considered as primary actors in international relations and are the original subjects of international law.
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- Parliamentary Diplomacy of Taiwan in Comparative PerspectiveAgainst Isolation and Under-Representation, pp. 1 - 11Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2021