US Senate Unanimously Passes Bill Supporting Taiwan's Participation in WHO Assembly

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Concerns are rising that conflicts with China will intensify as the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill supporting Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) Assembly.

According to foreign media including CNN, on the 12th (local time), the U.S. Senate announced that it had unanimously passed a bill supporting Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's highest decision-making body, scheduled for the 18th. Although the Taiwan government is not a full member of the WHO, it held observer status, but due to pressure from China, it has been unable to even participate as an observer in the WHO Assembly since 2016, after the anti-China President Ma Ying-jeou took office.

The U.S. Senate stated the purpose of the bill as follows: "Taiwan is a model country that has made significant contributions during global health crises, and excluding Taiwan from global health cooperation only increases the risks caused by the pandemic." Following the passage of this bill, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo must devise a strategy to help restore Taiwan's WHO observer status and report it to Congress.

Regarding the passage of this bill, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying, "It shows bipartisan support from the U.S. Congress for Taiwan," and emphasized, "The WHO must exclude political considerations and allow Taiwan to contribute to COVID-19 prevention efforts." Earlier, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu raised suspicions, stating, "The Chinese central government signed a secret memorandum of understanding with the WHO in 2005 to block Taiwan's participation in the WHO Assembly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.