WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is encouraging the World Health Organization to invite Taiwan as an observer at its annual meeting in Geneva from May 21 to 30, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.
China, which considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, began blocking its participation in the WHO’s annual assembly from 2017, in a diplomatic campaign to isolate the island, which rejects the Chinese sovereignty claims.
“Inviting Taiwan as an observer would exemplify the WHO’s commitment to an inclusive, ‘health for all’ approach to international health cooperation,” Blinken said in a statement.
The U.S. support for participation is in line with Washington’s one-China policy, he added.
In a statement, Taiwan’s foreign ministry thanked the United States for its strong support for participation, adding that the island’s exclusion would be “completely beyond reason” and harm global health co-operation.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Rami Ayyub; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in Taipei; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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