WHO GUIDELINES ON TAIWAN PARTICIPATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003261

SIPDIS

STATE FPR EAP/RSP/TC
PLEASE PASS TO AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2015
TAGS: SENV TBIO TW ESTH
SUBJECT: WHO GUIDELINES ON TAIWAN PARTICIPATION

REF: A. TAIPEI 00990

B. TAIPEI 02187

Classified By: AIT Director Douglas H. Paal, Reason: 1.4 (B/D)


1. (c) Summary. Taiwan Center for Disease Control (TCDC)
has received a letter outlining terms for Taiwan's
participation in WHO activities. Terms include: Taiwan
participation be on a case-by-case basis determined by
written invitation by WHO, that "experts" participate in
their personal capacity, that Taiwan participants in WHO
meetings and WHO representatives who visit Taiwan be below
the Director-General Level, that Taiwan use the "Taiwan,
China" nomenclature, and that Taiwan participants in expert
meetings not engage in political activities. AIT ESTOFF was
able to view the letter under the condition that AIT and the
U.S. not reveal to any Taiwan officials that we have seen the
letter. Taiwan has not yet formulated a response. The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA),TCDC and the Department
of Health (DOH) are in the process of determining Taiwan's
position. The TCDC contact who provided this information was
not part of that process and had no insight to offer other
than that, despite AIT telling TCDC it should expect such a
letter (ref A),TCDC did not believe it would materialize and
was therefore quite surprised by its arrival. End Summary.

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Terms of Sneak Peek
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2. (c) CDC representative Hsu Yu-chen (STRICTLY PROTECT)
invited AIT ESTOFF to meet with her on August 4 to provide a
discreet courtesy peek at the letter WHO sent TCDC Minister
Steve Hsu-sung Kuo (STRICTLY PROTECT) on July 27. Hsu
indicated that Kuo was pleased that AIT had kept Minister Kuo
informed of the WHO/Taiwan/PRC negotiations prior to the May
World Health Assembly and wanted to return that goodwill.
That being said, Hsu made clear that Kuo was doing this on
his own and did not want anyone on the Taiwan side to find
out he had provided this courtesy. ESTOFF was allowed to
look at the letter and take notes, but not provided a copy.

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Contents of WHO Letter
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3. (c) The gist of the letter minus the courteous formalities
follows:

Conditions have been agreed by which the WHO Secretariat will
be able to allow the participation of "medical and public
health experts from Taiwan, China" in technical activities by
the Secretariat. Similarly, WHO can dispatch staff and
technical assistance to TCDC and "other competent Taiwanese
institutions." These priviledges are subject to the
following conditions and procedures:

Taiwan Participation in WHO activities:
- "Taiwanese (sic, throughout) medical and public health
experts to participate in technical activities organized by
the Secretariat may arise from the initiative of WHO or
informal contacts between Taiwanese experts and competent
technical units of the Secretariat."
- "Taiwanese" experts will be invited on a case by case basis
only. Invitation to any one meeting in no way implies
general admission to others.
- Invitations will be in writing from WHO and will spell out
the terms of participation (financial, technical and
administrative)(financial, technical and administrative).
- "Taiwanese medical and public health experts" will be
invited to participate in their personal capacity and "when
designations of provenance are used, they shall be designated
as coming from Taiwan, China."
- Invitees will be under the Director-General level.
- Invitees are not to engage in political activities and
their participation may be terminated if they do.


Dispatching of WHO staff to Taiwan:
- "The activities referred to in this section may derive from
the initiative of the Secretariat or from a request from your
Centre or other competent technical authorities or
institutions."
- "The Secretariat will communicate in writing or through
electronic means, depending inter alia on the urgency of
situation and in any case as much advance notice as possible,
about the background, modalities and conditions of any
proposed activities and arrangements with particular regard
to visit by WHO staff members and experts."
- "It should be understood that they will only be able to
initiate and accept meetings and discussions with Taiwanese
medical and public health officials under the level of
'Director General.'"
- "We trust that the Taiwanese side will be prepared to
respect this condition so as to avoid embarrassing and
counter-productive situations, which could also affect the
further implementation of the arrangements described in this
section."
- "It should also be understood that medical and public
health assistance on the part of the WHO Secretariat may
consist of the dispatch of WHO staff members and experts as
well as of other forms of assistance such as, for example,
sending medical products and equipment or making available
public health information and publications."
- "The assistance in question, furthermore, may be provided
on a case-by-case basis and on a continuing basis for a
certain period of time, depending on the circumstance and
particularly on the gravity and urgency of the public health
situation or of any actual or potential public health
problem."


The letter concludes by noting that the purpose of the letter
is to set out the general terms of cooperation and sets out
the expectation that Taiwan will implement and carry out the
terms in good faith with the understanding that
clarifications may become necessary during the course of
implementation (this para largely paraphrased).

End letter.
PAAL