TAIWAN CONCERNED ABOUT DIMINISHING PARTICIPATION

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