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Ma deceived public
about international space: FAPA
‘SHOCKWAVES’: The Formosan Association for
Public Affairs said the WHO ‘Taiwan, Province of China’ memo showed Taiwan’s
participation was ‘an empty shell’
By William Lowther / Staff reporter in Washington
The Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) says that
the disclosure of an internal WHO memo instructing its agencies to refer to
Taiwan as a province of China has sent “shockwaves” through the overseas
Taiwanese community.
“The episode shows that the [President] Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] administration has
been deceptive and given the Taiwanese public an unwarranted rosy picture of the
situation,” FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) said.
Dated Sept. 14 last year, the memo says that procedures used by the WHO to
facilitate relations with Taiwan were subject to Chinese approval and that
Taiwan “as a province of China, cannot be party to the International Health
Regulations (IHR).”
In a statement distributed to the US press, FAPA said: “The information in the
memo stands in stark contrast to the image presented by the Ma Ying-jeou
administration, which emphasized that Taiwan’s observership — started in 2009 —
amounted to ‘substantive participation’ and had come about as a result of direct
negotiations with the WHO, without Chinese involvement.”
“The fact of the matter is that Taiwan’s participation is an empty shell,
without any substance,” Yang added. “This memo shows clearly the failure of the
Ma administration’s policies to gain international space.”
He said that China continued to block real participation by Taiwan’s medical
specialists in the WHO and that by agreeing to Chinese demands and conditions,
the WHO had violated the principle of universality.
“China’s motives are clear,” Yang said. “It wants to absorb Taiwan and leave it
no international space whatsoever.”
Asked about the memo following a speech by President Ma at a videoconference
with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Bonnie
Glaser — a senior fellow at the center — said it was part of a “challenge” that
Taiwan had faced in the past and would face again in the future.
“There are instances in which Beijing presses international organizations to use
terminology and labels to describe Taiwan that are unacceptable to the people of
Taiwan,” she said. “This is not -something that we are going to be able to
resolve very easily, but it is important not just for Taiwan to push back, but
for the international community to stand up and support the usage of a label for
Taiwan that is acceptable not just to the mainland, but also to the people of
Taiwan.”
“Calling Taiwan a province of China is not helpful to winning over the hearts
and minds of the people of Taiwan or to promoting reconciliation between the two
sides of the strait,” she added. “I personally think it is counter-productive
for Beijing to pursue such policies and I hope that they will realize that in
the future.”
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