Our attention has been drawn to an article titled “Taiwan, WHO/WHA in post-pandemic era”, written by the so-called Taipei representative/ Head of Mission in Nigeria and published by THE NATION newspaper of Nigeria on 17th May, 2023, which calls for the so-called “Taiwan region’s participation to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Health Assembly(WHA)”. Against the misleading information contained in the article, the Embassy has to bring up the facts and full picture of the true story, and also to reiterate China’s basic and consistent position.
WHO is an international organization in which only sovereign states are entitled to join. The Taiwan region is an inalienable part of China, but not a sovereign country, which is globally recognized and generalized as the one-China principle. The Resolution 2758 of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in October 1971 and the Resolution 25.1 of WHA in May 1972 had endorsed the one-China principle, which provided solid legal basis for the WHO to abide by the one-China principle. In a word, Taiwan region has no qualification to participate in the WHO or any other intergovernmental organizations and agencies.
Taiwan region's participation in the WHA must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle and through cross-strait consultations. The incumbent authorities in the Taiwan region since 2016 obstinately adhered to the separatist position of "Taiwan independence" and refused to recognize that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China. As a result, the political foundation for the Taiwan region’s participation in WHA has ceased to exist.
However, based on the one-China principle, the Central Government of China has made appropriate arrangements for the Taiwan region's participation in global health affairs. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Central Government of China has sent 260 notifications on COVID-19 to Taiwan region. Health experts in Taiwan region have participated in 16 WHO technical activities. The WHO Secretariat briefed health experts in Taiwan region several times on pandemic information. Consequently, the so-called "international epidemic prevention gap" does not exist, nor do experts of Taiwan region lack channels or platforms to share response and control practices with others.
We highly appreciate the long-term understanding and support to the one-China principle by the government and dear people of Nigeria. The Taiwan question is China’s internal affair that concerns China’s core interests and the Chinese People’s national sentiments. The Chinese government will never allow any activity by any force or any country to use the WHO/WHA, or any other intergovernmental arena, to harm China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.