Bill would restore Taiwan’s observer status at the World Health Organization, after China revoked it in 2017
To paraphrase the Baha Men: “WHO let Taiwan out. WHO WHO WHO WHO.”
The WHO
Counting 194 countries as official members, the World Health Organization (the WHO) is the globe’s primary international body coordinating treatment, prevention, and cures for diseases.
Though remaining an official member of the WHO, China has had a testy relationship with the organization, including refusing to let WHO investigators into Wuhan where the COVID-19 pandemic originated. President Donald Trump announced a U.S. withdrawal from WHO in May 2020, which took effect that July, largely on the basis of accusations that the organization was complicit in helping China “cover up” the virus in its early weeks and months. The U.S. had been the WHO’s largest donor.
The U.S. rejoined the WHO on President Joe Biden’s second day in office. Anthony Fauci, M.D., made the announcement, saying that despite the organization’s faults, it still provided by far the best way to globally coordinate health outcomes, particularly during a global pandemic. Now that the U.S. is back in, many believe that the U.S. should exert its influence as WHO’s largest funder to make some organizational changes, such as with Taiwan.
With a population of 23 million, Taiwan is technically a Chinese territory, though they in some ways they govern autonomously. Their exact political status has been a source of ambiguity for decades. The U.S. had cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979. But Donald Trump spoke to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, the first such phone call in four decades, while in 2020 the U.S. sent its highest-ranking official to Taiwan since diplomatic ties were cut.
In 2009, China agreed to let Taiwan hold “observer status” at the WHO for the first time, which allowed it unofficial roles such as participating in meetings, even though it still did not hold an actual vote. In 2017, after increasing tensions, China revoked Taiwan’s observer status.
What the bill does
A new bill would require the Secretary of State to “develop a strategy” to restore Taiwan’s observer status in WHO. It wouldn’t technically mandate the change, because the U.S. can’t include a country in WHO unilaterally, since the decision has to be made by the WHO’s members writ large.
The bill was introduced in the House on February 18 as H.R. 1145, by Rep. Young Kim (R-CA39).
What supporters say
Supporters argue that Taiwan deserves at least observer status (if not full member status) due both to its stats as a U.S. ally and an important collaborator in health transparency.
“Taiwan is a strong ally of the U.S. and has been a leader in global health, with a decades-long record of responding effectively to public health crises and helping other nations,” Rep. Kim said in a press release. “By regaining observer status, Taiwan will be able to receive and share up-to-date information with other countries in the WHO during this global pandemic.”
“It is shameful that China prohibited Taiwan from collaborating with world partners in the WHO. Time and time again, we have seen that giving Taiwan a seat at the table on global health security benefits us all,” Rep. Kim continued. “I’ll continue to do all I can to strengthen our U.S.-Taiwan relationship and support Taiwan as it looks to restore its observer status.”
What opponents say
Even supporters of Taiwan may counter that the bill is unnecessary, since it’s meant to pressure the State Department, which is already on the bill’s supporters’ side — under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
“At a time when the world continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, we need multilateral institutions to deliver on their stated missions and to serve the interests of all member states, not to play politics while lives are at stake,” President Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a May 2020 press release.
“No one disputes that Taiwan has mounted one of the world’s most successful efforts to contain the pandemic to date, despite its close proximity to the original outbreak in Wuhan, China,” Pompeo continued. “This should not be a surprise. Transparent, vibrant, and innovative democracies like Taiwan always respond faster and more effectively to pandemics than do authoritarian regimes.”
While GovTrack Insider was unable to locate any comment from President Biden’s Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on the observer status issue, he did recently refer to Taiwan as a “country,” in a break from longstanding department precedent.
Odds of passage
The bill has attracted 62 bipartisan cosponsors: 40 Republicans and 22 Democrats. It awaits a potential vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Such a vote seems likely, since both Democratic Chair Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY5) and Republican Ranking Member Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX10) are both cosponsors.
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This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
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