AIT DEMARCHES TAIWAN ON WHO

C O N F I D E N T I A L AIT TAIPEI 000783

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

GENEVA FOR DHOHMAN; BEIJING FOR DSELIGSOHN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2012
TAGS: TBIO PREL WHO CH TW
SUBJECT: AIT DEMARCHES TAIWAN ON WHO

REF: A. STATE 46031

B. TAIPEI 0719

Classified By: Acting Director Robert S. Wang for reasons 1.4 B/D



1. (C) SUMMARY. AIT Acting Director presented Ref A
demarche conveying USG reaction to Taiwan's plan to pursue
full membership in WHO to Presidential Secretary-General
Chiou I-jen Chiou on April 9. Chiou responded by citing
Taiwan's frustrations over ten years of non-progress in
Taiwan's quest for WHO observership as the primary reason for
this decision to go for full membership. He underscored,
however, that Taiwan does not want to "jeopardize" its
relations with the U.S. and has no intention of changing its
official name. ADIR urged Taiwan to reconsider its decision
to apply for full membership and to adopt a course the U.S.
can support. Chiou promised to relay the message to the
President. END SUMMARY


2. (C) AIT Acting Director Robert Wang met with Presidential
Secretary General Chiou I-jen on April 9 to deliver Ref A

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demarche on Taiwan's proposal to apply for full membership in
the World Health Organization (WHO) under the name "Taiwan"
this week. ADIR emphasized that the demarche is the product
of high-level interagency review. Chiou listened soberly as
ADIR listed U.S. objections to Taiwan intention to apply WHO
membership under the name "Taiwan." (Note: Chiou indicated
in a one-on-one afterwards that he was not very surprised by
USG reaction. He said that this was a personal decision made
by President Chen just in the past week. )


3. (C) Chiou responded to the demarche with two main points.
First, the Taiwan authorities, he told ADIR, have no
intention of changing the official name of Taiwan (i.e.
"Republic of China"). Second, Taiwan authorities were deeply
frustrated by the failure of its strategy of trying to
increase Taiwan's participation in the WHO over the past ten
years. Therefore, Taiwan had decided to pursue full a
membership application with the WHO Secretariat prior to the
World Health Assembly (WHA) deliberations in Geneva in
mid-May. WHO regulations requiring 30 days lead time, he
explained, had determined the timing of the expected Taiwan
application later this week. Chiou emphasized that Taiwan
had not given up its pursuit of WHO observership or
increasing its meaningful participation in WHO activities,
but was seeking one more opportunity "to raise our voices."
He also remarked that President Chen wanted "to do something
before the end of his term " to respond to domestic demands.
(Note: Chiou was aware of ADIR's April 6 meeting with FM
James Huang -- Ref B -- but appeared uninformed about the
details of the meeting. End Note.)


4. (C) ADIR told Chiou that Washington believes this new
approach of applying for membership will hurt Taiwan in its
pursuit of both more meaningful participation in WHO
activities and formal WHO observer status. He stressed that
Taiwan pursuit of WHO membership will force the U.S. to
publicly oppose it. Chiou responded by again stressing that
there is no plan to change Taiwan's name and that Taiwan
wants to continue cooperating with the U.S. on efforts to
obtain observership and meaningful participation. He
stressed that Taiwan does not want to undermine its
relationship with the United States.


5. (C) ADIR concluded the demarche by urging Taiwan to
reconsider its decision and to change course and pursue an
approach that the U.S. can support. Chiou promised to convey
the message to the President promptly.


6. (C) Note. ADIR had presented the demarche to Chiou
because FM Huang's availability was unclear in the morning.
Subsequently, FM Huang called and requested a copy of the
points which we delivered by hand to his office. END NOTE.

WANG