Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07AITTAIPEI719
2007-03-29 03:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Cable title:  

TAIWAN CONCERNED ABOUT DIMINISHING PARTICIPATION

Tags:  AMED CASC SENV TBIO PREL CH TW 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0719/01 0880318
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 290318Z MAR 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4664
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 6540
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 8547
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 8599
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1801
C O N F I D E N T I A L AIT TAIPEI 000719 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EAP/TC FOR SUE BREMNER PLS. PASS STEPHEN YOUNG; GENEVA FOR
DAVID HOHMAN; BEIJING FOR DSELIGSOHN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2012
TAGS: AMED CASC SENV TBIO PREL CH TW
SUBJECT: TAIWAN CONCERNED ABOUT DIMINISHING PARTICIPATION
IN WHO

Classified By: ECON CHIEF DANIEL K MOORE FOR REASONS 1.4 B/D


C O N F I D E N T I A L AIT TAIPEI 000719

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EAP/TC FOR SUE BREMNER PLS. PASS STEPHEN YOUNG; GENEVA FOR
DAVID HOHMAN; BEIJING FOR DSELIGSOHN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2012
TAGS: AMED CASC SENV TBIO PREL CH TW
SUBJECT: TAIWAN CONCERNED ABOUT DIMINISHING PARTICIPATION
IN WHO

Classified By: ECON CHIEF DANIEL K MOORE FOR REASONS 1.4 B/D



1. (C) SUMMARY. This is an action cable; see paras 3 and 7.
AIT met with Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and
Department of Health (DOH) officials on March 27 to gauge
Taiwan strategy going into the next World Health Assembly
(WHA) meeting in Geneva mid-May. According to our
interlocutors, Taiwan has seen its participation drop since
Director-General Margaret Chan took over. Current planning
is for Taiwan to work for increased participation through the
International Health Regulations (IHR) and the Global
Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) by seeking a
modus operandi that all sides can accept. AIT informed
Taiwan that the U.S. is actively working with Japan to
enhance Taiwan's participation and requested to be informed
of any instances where participation in technical meetings
were being obstructed. Action item: Taiwan requested
working-level meetings in Washington to discuss
Taiwan's WHO participation and a meeting between DOH minister
Hou Shen-mou and HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt in Geneva on
the margins of the WHA meeting. END SUMMARY

MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION?
--------------


2. (C) MOFA International Organizations (IO)
Director-General (DG) David Lin (Yung-lo) and members of his
staff and DOH International Affairs DG Peter Chang and staff
met with POL Chief and ESTHOFF on March 27 to discuss Taiwan
strategy and U.S. coordination prior to the upcoming WHA
conference. Lin said Taiwan was seeking to establish a modus
operandi for future Taiwan participation. Taiwan, they said,
is getting very frustrated with WHO's "ad-hoc" manner of
handling each Taiwan request for participation and the narrow
interpretation of the concept of "meaningful participation."
They believe Taiwan had actually lost ground since last year,
when it was able to participate in 30 percent of WHO

meetings.

LOBBYING IN GENEVA, WASHINGTON, TOKYO
--------------


3. (C) DG Chang told AIT that he had met with the WHO
Assistant DG David Heyman last week in Geneva. IO staffers
also noted that Taiwan Geneva office chief Shen Lyu-shun had
been discussing WHO participation with David Hohman. Noting
that Vice Foreign Minister Yang Tzu-pao will lead a Taiwan
delegation to Tokyo on/about April 17 to discuss Taiwan
participation in WHO activities, Lin and Chang proposed two
meetings with U.S. officials to discuss coordination on
Taiwan participation: (1) a meeting in Washington probably
led by VFM Yang, and (2) a meeting between DOH Minister Hou
Shen-mou with HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, probably in
Geneva on the margins of the WHA conference beginning May 13.

FRUSTRATING NOMENCLATURE ISSUES
--------------


4. (C) Lin and Chang told AIT that the name issue is still
bedeviling Taiwan's participation in WHO activities. While
WHO might issue an invitation to "Chinese Taipei," when
Taiwan delegates arrived they would find their name plates
reading "Taiwan, China." It appeared to Taiwan that this was
a PRC-choreographed scheme to force Taiwan to accept a
"provincial" status. The May 2005 MOU between WHO and the
PRC governing Taiwan participation gives carte-blanche to the
PRC to veto Taiwan participation in any meeting. By
comparison, they noted, the International Labor Organization
(ILO) has much clearer rules of participation.

TIMELY NOTIFICATION; CLEAR PROCEDURES NEEDED
--------------


5. (C) Lin and Chang told AIT that due to late
notifications, Taiwan had to forfeit participating in many
meetings in which it should have participated. One example
of such belated notification was the WHO-organized "Training
for Rapid Containment of Potential Influenza" in Phnom Penh,
May 26-29, 2006. Taiwan received approval to attend on May
21 and was barely able to get one person to the meeting.
Another case concerns an Taiwan NGO medical doctor applying
to participate in an upcoming training workshop on medical
assistance -- a topic on which Taiwan has much to offer -- in
Moscow on April 15-28, 2007. DOH's Chang requested AIT's


assistance in resolving the lack of response from WHO.

U.S. SUPPORT FOR MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION
--------------


6. (C) AIT POL Chief emphasized that the U.S. is committed
to working with Taiwan to enhance its participation in WHO
activities as a practical building-block approach to reaching
the ultimate goal of Taiwan WHO Observership. The U.S. is
working with Japan, the EU and other WHO members to enhance
Taiwan participation. Our Geneva mission is coordinating
with the Japanese on a joint approach to WHO DG Chan to
discuss Taiwan participation, and the EU has already made its
pitch to the DG. AIT suggested that incidents of delayed
notification or approval and unreasonable denials of meeting
participation be sent to AIT to see if the U.S. might be able
to resolve the problems.

ACTION FOR DEPT.
--------------


7. (C) Action Request: Please advise whether and when (1) a
Taiwan working delegation might visit Washington for WHO
discussions, and (2) a meeting between DOH Minister Hou and
HHS Secretary Leavitt might be possible, either in Geneva or
Washington prior to the WHA conference.
WANG