WHA once again the stage for a farce: China Daily editorial

After the G7 foreign ministers issued a communique voicing support for "Taiwan's meaningful participation in World Health Organization forums and the World Health Assembly" on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken doubled down on the Taiwan card on Friday, calling for the World Health Organization to invite the island to participate as an observer at the meeting, reiterating his call again on Sunday.

Instead of viewing the WHA as an opportunity to promote solidarity in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic, it is being used by those who are ill-intentioned toward China as an excuse to engage in more troublemaking.

As per United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1, the participation of the island in activities of international organizations, including the WHO, must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle.

Not to mention that the West's push for Taiwan's WHA participation is built on sand as the Central Government of China has made appropriate arrangements for Taiwan's participation in global health affairs which fully guarantees its smooth communication with the world health body over pandemic-related issues.

According to incomplete statistics, since the pandemic began, health experts in Taiwan have participated in 16 WHO technical activities, including important meetings such as the fourth Global Vaccine and Immunization Research Forum and WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization meetings.

There is an International Health Regulations Contact Point in the Taiwan region, and the island also has an account to log onto the WHO event information website and timely and full access to WHO information on public health emergencies through the website and the daily updates.

With the approval of China's Central Government, the WHO Secretariat notified health experts in Taiwan three times of information about COVID-19. The island is also part of the COVAX program.

As such, the West's narrative to push Taiwan's WHA agenda under the pretext of public health is nothing but politically driven white lies. All that the anti-China forces care about is using Taiwan as a chess piece in their playbook to confront China, not the health and welfare of the island's residents.

Whoever indulges in political manipulation of the Taiwan question should be aware that they are wasting their time as China has both the resolve and the capability to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. It will push back hard against any provocations in this regard.