How Taiwan plays politics with the World Health Organization

The World Health Assembly’s decision to exclude the island was a foregone conclusion, but Taipei and the G7 have managed to turn it into another public relations victory. For them, anti-China politics trumps public health

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A lone cyclist in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, on May 24. Photo: EPA-EFE

Alex Lo

Alex Lo has been an SCMP columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China.

Published: 9:00pm, 26 May 2021Updated: 10:05pm, 26 May 2021

The 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) has opened in Geneva and online this week without extending an invitation to Taiwan. This was despite extensive pressure and lobbying from the major Western powers as well as several allies of the United States in Asia.

Predictably, the mainland has denounced Western lobbying as “interference in its domestic affairs”. Taipei, in turn, has rounded on the WHA, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), for “indifference” to the health and well-being of the people on the self-ruled island and for capitulating to Beijing.

Both sides accuse each other of playing politics. They are both right, but Taiwan especially. Based on empirical evidence, Taipei has shown itself one of the most successful governments in containing the Covid-19 pandemic in the past year, at least until now.

Technically and medically, WHO experts have worked closely, as the WHA makes clear in a press statement, with their counterparts in Taiwan from day one. Necessary technical help and support have been given, regardless of whether Taiwan was a member or an observer in the WHA, or neither.

Given its own successes, it’s ridiculous to claim Taiwan could have performed better or that its population’s health was being undermined because of the WHA decision. But the theme of the assembly this year is: “Ending this pandemic, preventing the next: building together a healthier, safer and fairer world.” It’s conceivable that given the island’s recent successes, it has something to contribute to dealing with this and the next pandemic.