Commitment to one-China principle unshakable

The World Health Assembly, the highest decision-making body of the World Health Organization, has not included on its agenda a proposal that Taiwan be allowed to participate in the annual assembly as an observer.

This is the eighth year in a row that the WHA has rejected such a proposal concerning Taiwan. Both United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1, which recognize that Taiwan is part of China and that representatives of the People's Republic of China are the only legitimate representatives of China to the UN, are the legal foundations for these proposals to be rejected.

It rests with Beijing to decide whether to grant the island approval to participate in the WHA. The local administration on the island upholding of the one-China principle is a prerequisite for Beijing to give a green light to its participation in the meeting, which it did before 2016 when the island's authorities upheld the 1992 Consensus on the one-China principle.

The central government attaches great importance to the health and well-being of residents on the island, and Taiwan's medical and health experts can participate in WHO technical meetings under the prerequisite that the one-China principle is upheld.

The proposal that was rejected by the WHA on Monday, as well as those of the past seven years, was submitted for the purpose of creating a fait accompli of "one China and one Taiwan" in international organizations, rather than for the public health of Taiwan residents.

Playing the Taiwan card in this way is an integral part of the US' strategy to contain the Chinese mainland, despite its stated commitment to the one-China principle, which the US administration has repeatedly said it recognizes. Yet at the same time, the US administration smears the mainland's efforts to realize national reunification with the island as "bullying, coercion and threats".

By putting forward the Taiwan-related proposal each year at the WHA, the US and its allies have in effect distracted the WHO's attention from its due focus on the WHA meeting, wasted the valuable time and energy of the other participants and tried to divide the world health body.

Over 100 countries explicitly expressed support for China's position by writing to the WHO director-general and through other means. This fully demonstrates that the one-China principle is recognized as an incontrovertible historical truth.