Posted on 05/19/2003 5:38:23 PM PDT by twntaipan
GENEVA (AP)--Taiwan failed Monday in its seventh bid for a toehold in the World Health Organization, despite intense lobbying by the island's authorities, who said a link with the U.N. health agency would help them battle the SARS virus.
The World Health Assembly, the top decision-making body of the 191-nation WHO, decided not to include the Taiwan issue on the agenda of its annual meeting in Geneva.
With support from the United States, Taiwan had applied for observer status at WHO as a ``health entity'' instead of a country.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, who also is health minister, called the Taiwanese bid ``an inglorious farce.''
``It is unlawful, illogical and unreasonable,'' she told the assembly. ``Our Taiwanese compatriots are members of the big family of the Chinese nation.''
Beijing has consistently opposed any link between Taiwan and the U.N. health agency as an expression of Taiwanese sovereignty. Beijing considers Taiwan a Chinese territory and has fiercely opposed any attempts by Taiwan to act as an independent nation.
The rivalry between Taiwan and China dates to 1949, when the two sides split amid civil war. The Chinese seat at the United Nations, initially held by Taiwan, was given to Beijing in 1972.
As an observer, Taiwan would be allowed to attend WHO proceedings but not vote. Though it would not have a say in WHO decisions, its very presence would lend weight to its larger goal of rejoining the United Nations.
Taiwan has scored several victories in recent years. It was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001 as a ``separate customs territory.'' For the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, it is an ``economic entity.''
But Beijing has consistently opposed any link between Taiwan and the U.N. health agency
In each of the five years prior to 2002, Taiwan applied to WHO under its official name, the Republic of China. Last year it took a different approach, applying as a ``health entity.'' That too failed.
On Sunday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said the United States backed Taiwan's attempts to gain observer status because it would help fight SARS.
Thompson and delegates from Senegal and Panama were the only assembly participants to speak in favor of Taiwan at the meeting Monday.
As he left the meeting room, Thompson said Taiwan was ``going to have to work on other countries'' if it wanted to succeed in a future bid.
Ahead of the World Health Assembly, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian said it was unfair to keep Taiwan's 23 million people out of WHO's global disease prevention network amid the SARS epidemic. The virus has hit Taiwan, China and Hong Kong particularly badly.
When SARS first appeared in Taiwan, its unusual status delayed help from WHO. The island's government says the agency failed to respond to its appeals for help.
On May 2, seven weeks after Taiwan reported its first SARS case, Beijing announced it would permit WHO inspectors to visit the island.
Taiwan on Sunday reported three deaths and 36 new cases. It now has 344 infections, with 40 fatalities.
More than 7,700 people have been infected by SARS--mostly in Asia--since the disease first surfaced in southern China in November. The world death toll stands at 634.
Sometimes I get so mad at this stuff I want to spit.
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