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Washington, Taipei convene to discuss Taiwan's WHA, ICAO bids

ROC Central News Agency

10/29/2022 01:39 PM

Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) Officials from the United States and Taiwan held a high-level meeting on Friday (Washington, D.C. time) to discuss ways to expand Taiwan's participation in United Nations' specialized agencies and other international organizations.

The meeting focused on evaluating this past year's efforts to endorse Taiwan's meaningful participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the World Health Organization's decision-making body -- in May and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly in September, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State said in a press statement.

High-level representatives of the Department of State and Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) took part in the meeting in Washington, the statement said.

Both sides agreed that they need to strengthen engagement with like-minded partners in Geneva, Montreal, New York, Taipei, Washington, and elsewhere to "increase awareness of Taiwan's positive contributions to the international community," the statement said.

They also exchanged views on addressing global issues, such as public health, civil aviation safety, climate change, the environment, telecommunications, intellectual property, economic cooperation, and freedom of religion or belief, the statement said.

The U.S. applauded Taiwan's contributions to the international community and reiterated its commitment to helping Taiwan gain meaningful participation in international fora, in accordance with long-standing U.S. policy, the statement said.

Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China, has not been a U.N. member since losing its seat to the People's Republic of China in 1971, and is therefore not a member of the WHO or the ICAO.

However, from 2009 to 2016, Taiwan was able to participate in the WHA as an observer when relations were good during those years under Taiwan's previous Kuomintang (KMT) administration.

Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party took office in 2016, cross-strait relations have deteriorated and Beijing has ramped up its effort to isolate Taiwan from the international community.

As a result, Taiwan has not been invited to participate in the WHA since 2017. The country last attended the ICAO's triennial event as a guest of the president of the U.N. agency's council in 2013.

In a separate press statement issued after the meeting, MOFA thanked the U.S. for its strong backing for Taiwan and said such support was a testament to the solid partnership between the two sides.

(By Teng Pei-ju)

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