Taiwan asks for NMI support in WHO bid

The Taipei government has asked the 13th Legislature for support in Taiwan’s bid to acquire observer status in the World Health Organization.

House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider said yesterday that he has already referred the matter to the House Committee on U.S. and Foreign Affairs for the drafting of a resolution in support of this request.

In a letter addressed to the Speaker, Director General C.J. Lee of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Guam said that the European Parliament has already passed a resolution on March 14 this year supporting Taiwan’s observer status during this May’s annual meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

This comes in the wake of House Resolution 428 that the U.S. Congress also passed on May 28, 2001, which was later revised to House Resolution 2739 just this March. House Resolution 428, which later became Public Law 107-10, supports Taiwan’s observer status in the WHO assembly in May, saying that Taiwan’s achievements in the field of health are substantial.

The resolution also recognized the close collaboration that has existed between Taiwan and the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The people of Taiwan would greatly appreciate it if the CNMI 13th Legislature could express its support for Taiwan’s observer status in the WHO in a similar vein,” said Lee.

Rep. William S. Torres, who is Chair of the U.S. and Foreign Affairs committee, said he will be sitting down soon with other committee members to discuss the draft resolution.

“That’s a very important resolution and we plan to report it out on Tuesday,” Torres said.

When asked to relate this to China’s insistence that Taipei is a renegade province and thus cannot be recognized by other countries as a separate state, Torres said this issue transcends politics and whatever issue these two have. “This issue deals with health, which is of great importance in the region.”

“Of course, we may have to refer the matter to the Interior Department representative since it deals with foreign matters. Off the top of my head, I think we may have to do this,” he added.

Other groups that have been granted observer status in the WHO were the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1974, the Order of Malta and the Holy See in the early 1950’s.