Taiwan Row Looms Large As WHO Set For Historic Event

The World Health Organisation will on Monday kick off its first ever virtual assembly, amid escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing around the novel coronavirus, including the participation of Taiwan at the World Health Assembly (WHA).

Nearly 15 countries, including Belize, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands and Honduras, have written to the director general of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, asking that the question of Taiwan's participation be added to the agenda.

Asked repeatedly on the subject at a news conference, the WHO said that it only has the role of secretariat of the assembly and that only member states can decide to invite Taiwan or not.

This ad hoc committee, made up of 15 countries from several regions, is usually formed at the start of each WHA and is responsible for deciding whether additional items can be added to the agenda.

Due to the pandemic, it will not be able to sit on Monday, delaying any ruling.

It will have to decide on the issue during the physical meeting that the WHO hopes to organise at the end of the year.

Nothing, however, prevents a country calling on Monday for a vote on the presence of Taiwan.

"WHA decisions are usually made by consensus," said WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib. "If a vote is deemed necessary, given the constraints we face with a virtual WHA, a vote will be difficult, but not impossible."

"While this has been an ongoing concern for several years, this has taken on a heightened attention this year in response to the global pandemic," US Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Andrew Bremberg said, referring to Taiwan's participation.

"Allowing for some sort of meaningful participation would seem to be the minimum that the WHO could do."

The UN health agency has, however, insisted that such a move would require a resolution by member states, who in 1972 decided Beijing was China's sole legitimate representative.

It has also suggested it can only issue an invite with Beijing's blessing.

Taiwan was invited to attend the WHA for a number of years as an observer, but that stopped in 2016, with the entrance of a new Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, who refuses to recognise the concept that Taiwan is part of "one China".

Several diplomatic sources cautioned that putting this issue to a vote even under normal conditions would be a drawn-out process, and that doing so during a short, virtual meeting would be an unsurmountable logistical challenge.

It would "torpedo" the entire assembly, one diplomatic source warned.

The World Health Assembly, which has been trimmed from the usual three weeks to just two days, Monday and Tuesday.

WHO chief Ghebreyesus said on Friday the event would be "one of the most important (WHAs) since we were founded in 1948".

Despite the tensions, countries hope to adopt by consensus a resolution urging a joint response to the pandemic.

The resolution, tabled by the European Union, calls for an "impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation" of the international response to the Covid crisis. (AFP)