Taiwan's ruling party condemned for using outbreak as secessionist tool

The mainland's Taiwan affairs authority strongly condemned Taiwan's ruling party on Thursday for exploiting the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak to promote its secessionist ambitions and viewing membership of the World Health Organization as recognition of statehood.

As the country battles the outbreak, the Democratic Progressive Party, the ruling party of Taiwan, is lobbying for the island to join the WHO, claiming it has received very limited information because of its exclusion from the organization.

The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said on Thursday that the Chinese mainland had passed the latest information on prevention and control of the epidemic to Taiwan on many occasions since the outbreak began.

It also arranged for experts from Taiwan to visit Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak and capital of Hubei province, last month.

Ignoring the mainland's goodwill and sincerity, the DPP authorities were telling a lie, revealing their sinister intentions to fool the people and seek political gain, the office said.

The mainland would continue to make arrangements for Taiwan to obtain relevant information on prevention and control of the epidemic, but would never allow the promotion of "Taiwan independence", it said.

The office urged the DPP to stop its political manipulation, saying that "exploiting the outbreak to promote 'independence' is doomed to fail."

Taiwan is a part of China and the one-China principle is upheld globally, it said, adding that the island cannot join the WHO because membership is limited to sovereign countries.

Taiwan's absence from the WHO had in no way prevented the island from accessing its resources, the office said.

The mainland had arranged for Taiwan to obtain information about public health events and there were no barriers to technical cooperation between Taiwan and the WHO, it said.

Taiwan public health and medical experts can participate in WHO technical events, the office said, adding that according to incomplete statistics, 11 experts from the island attended technical meetings organized by the WHO last year.

The island also has an account with access to the WHO event information website, on which it can obtain timely information on global public health emergencies, it said.