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U.S. Senate approves bill to back Taiwan's WHO bid

ROC Central News Agency

08/06/2021 06:38 PM

Washington, Aug. 6 (CNA) The United States Senate on Friday passed a bill directing the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Introduced by Senator Bob Menendez in March, the bill was approved via "unanimous consent" in a plenary session at the Senate, after it was approved through a voice vote by the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee on July 28.

The bill pointed out that Taiwan remains a model contributor to world health, having invested over US$6 billion in international medical and humanitarian aid efforts impacting over 80 countries since 1996.

It added that Taiwan donated millions of items of personal protective equipment and COVID-19 tests to countries in need in 2020.

"These diseases know no borders, and Taiwan's needless exclusion from global health cooperation increases the dangers presented by global pandemics," the bill said.

It said Taiwan began seeking to participate in the WHO as an observer in 1997, and had been able to do so for several years after 2009 with support from the U.S. and like-minded WHO member states and due to improved cross-strait relations at that time.

However, Taiwan has not been invited to participate since 2017 after the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration began facing increased resistance from Beijing on the international stage, the bill said.

Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party is perceived as independent-leaning by Beijing, which identifies "reunification" of Taiwan as its "core interest."

According to the bill, the Senate directs the Secretary of State to establish a strategy for efforts to obtain observer status for Taiwan at the World Health Assembly, the WHO's decision body, and to report annually to Congress on relevant developments.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a similar bill in March.

After both chambers of the U.S. Congress agree on a unified version of the final bill, it will be forwarded to President Joe Biden to sign.

As early as 2017, bills aimed at helping to restore Taiwan's observer status in the WHO have been proposed by the U.S. House and Senate but none have been approved by both chambers.

(By Stacy Hsu and Emerson Lim)

Enditem/AW