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EU lawmakers send
protest to WHO
‘COMPROMISED’: The letter said there was no
basis in international law for referring to Taiwan as a province of China and it
also called for a more meaningful role for Taiwan
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
European lawmakers condemned the WHO in a letter of protest that accused the
world body of undermining its own credibility when it referred to Taiwan as a
province of China.
In a letter delivered to the head of the WHO, British MEP (EU lawmaker) Charles
Tannock said he believed the body’s position on Taiwan to be “politically and
morally flawed.”
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍), as a Chinese citizen, “risks calling
into question [her] own personal impartiality and integrity” by terming Taiwan a
part of China, Tannock wrote in a letter also signed by 20 other MEPs.
“No United Nations specialized agency has the right unilaterally to decide on
the status in international law of any given country or territory,” the letter
said. “As you well know, UN agencies and their staff are required to remain
impartial and not to take instructions from, or show favor to, any national
government.”
Tannock, who chairs the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group, was asked
by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during a visit to Taiwan last month to speak in
favor of the nation using the term “Chinese Taipei.”
The request came in the wake of the release of a WHO internal memo released by a
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker that told agencies to refer to
Taiwan as a province of China, pursuant to an agreement with Beijing.
Since 2009, Taiwan has been invited to observe the World Health Assembly (WHA),
the WHO governing body, as Chinese Taipei, although the memo made clear that
“there has been no change in the status of Taiwan Province of China.”
Tannock said he was “dismayed” by the revelation and that the world body’s
“explicit reference to Taiwan as a province of China has no basis in
international law.”
“It is therefore hard to avoid the conclusion that the People’s Republic of
China has deliberately sought to compromise the independence and impartiality of
the WHO for its own political purposes,” he wrote. “We urge you to change the
WHO’s internal procedures to refer to Taiwan as ‘Chinese Taipei,’ the accepted
nomenclature that Taiwan uses in other international organizations and
structures.”
The letter was signed by lawmakers from a range of EU political groups,
including 10 from the largest, the European People’s Party. Tannock is the
foreign affairs spokesman of the smaller European Conservatives and Reformists
Group.
The letter also called for Taiwan to be allowed to play a more meaningful role
in the WHO, pursuant with a resolution passed by the European parliament last
month.
“We believe that Taiwan, with its excellent healthcare sector and world-class
doctors, has much to contribute to the WHO ... Healthcare is a basic human right
and should never be exploited as a political pawn,” he wrote.
The Republic of China exited the UN, the parent body of the WHO, in 1971 after
being replaced by a People’s Republic of China representative.
Government officials have lauded Taiwan’s inclusion as an observer in the WHA
since 2009 as a “breakthrough” in international relations, although optimism was
later dampened by the release of the WHO memo by DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling
(管碧玲).
The memo was accompanied by the disclosure of other information reinforcing the
claim, including WHO publishing policies and a mislabeled list of Taiwanese
experts, leading the government to file a formal letter of protest on May 16.
Kuan said yesterday that she believed the MEPs’ letter to the WHO head was even
more strongly worded than the government’s protest letter, which attracted
controversy for discrepancies between the English and Chinese versions.
“The remarks in the MEPs’ protest letter makes it seem like they are defending
their own country,” Kuan said. “It makes the government’s letter look weak.”
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