Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07AITTAIPEI948
2007-04-27 08:26:00
CONFIDENTIAL
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Cable title:  

CONSENSUS IN SUPPORT OF TAIWAN'S PARTICIPATION IN

Tags:  WHO TBIO PREL CH TW 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0948/01 1170826
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 270826Z APR 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5052
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6690
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0615
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 4505
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0212
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8601
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 8710
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1770
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1811
C O N F I D E N T I A L AIT TAIPEI 000948 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

HHS FOR MARK ABDOO, GENEVA FOR DHOHMAN; BEIJING FOR
DSELIGSOHN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2012
TAGS: WHO TBIO PREL CH TW
SUBJECT: CONSENSUS IN SUPPORT OF TAIWAN'S PARTICIPATION IN
WHO

REF: A. TAIPEI 00805

B. TAIPEI 00783

C. TAIPEI 00768

Classified By: Acting Economic Section Chief Tim Neely for reasons 1.4
b/d

C O N F I D E N T I A L AIT TAIPEI 000948

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

HHS FOR MARK ABDOO, GENEVA FOR DHOHMAN; BEIJING FOR
DSELIGSOHN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2012
TAGS: WHO TBIO PREL CH TW
SUBJECT: CONSENSUS IN SUPPORT OF TAIWAN'S PARTICIPATION IN
WHO

REF: A. TAIPEI 00805

B. TAIPEI 00783

C. TAIPEI 00768

Classified By: Acting Economic Section Chief Tim Neely for reasons 1.4
b/d


1. (C) SUMMARY. Canada convened a meeting April 11 of
representatives from UK, Canada, EU, Australia, New Zealand,
Japan and U.S. offices in Taipei to discuss next steps
following Taiwan's abortive membership bid for the World
Health Organization (WHO). All agreed that that Taiwan's
membership drive was not helpful and may actually undercut
efforts underway to enhance Taiwan's "meaningful
participation" in WHO activities. Although there was some
disagreement over support for Taiwan's observership bid at
the World Health Assembly (WHA),all present agreed that

their governments were committed to continuing to work for
Taiwan's meaningful participation in WHO activities. To this
end, this ad hoc group agreed to continue information sharing
and coordination in support of Taiwan's participation in WHO
activities, but in a low-key fashion so as not to disturb PRC
sensitivities. END SUMMARY

NO TO MEMBERSHIP; YES TO MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION
-------------- --------------


2. (C) At the invitation of the Canadian Commercial Office
director, reps from the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, Japan and the AIT met on 4/19 to discuss
ramifications of Taiwan's April 11 membership application for
WHO membership. Following are views of each country
representative present:

--Canada: The Prime Minister is interested in the issue of
Taiwan participation in WHO and is looking at other options
since Canada does not believe the 2005 WHO-PRC MOU adequately
addresses Taiwan's needs for increased meaningful
participation.

-- EU: Brussels was upset and surprised that Taiwan applied
for WHO membership, lamenting that Taiwan had not
acknowledged EU efforts on its behalf. The EU rep, however,
stated there is no change in the EU position, and that the EU
continues to oppose WHA observership for Taiwan but supports
increasing Taiwan's meaningful participation (including
International Health Regulations/IHR and the Global Outbreak
Alert Response Network/GOARN) and has so demarched WHO twice
this year, most recently in a March meeting of EU ambassadors
with WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.

-- UK: UK finds it difficult to assess the actual status of
Taiwan's participation in WHO activities, but supports
Taiwan's meaningful participation.

-- New Zealand: Opposes WHO observership, but supports
meaningful participation. NZ is not happy with Taiwan's
membership bid and asked what course of action the U.S.
plans.

-- Japan: Taiwan's WHO membership bid came as a surprise to
Japan. On April 9 FM Huang called in Japan Representative
Ikeda and informed him of Taiwan's intention to apply for WHO
membership (Note: Huang called in AIT Deputy Director on
April 6; see ref C). Four days later Japan responded to FM
Huang with four points: (1) Japan is making every effort to
increase Taiwan participation. (2) Japan is concerned that
Taiwan's membership application will undermine efforts for
improving meaningful participation.
(3) Taiwan should reconsider its decision to apply for
membership. (4) Japan does not support membership in WHO for
Taiwan, but it does support observership and meaningful
participation in IHR and GOARN.

--AIT: AIT works with both MOFA and Taiwan Center for
Disease Control (TCDC) on the issue of enhancing Taiwan's
meaningful Participation in WHO activities. The U.S.
supports observership and meaningful participation, but not
membership, for Taiwan. Our representative in Geneva has
discussed these issues with WHO and Taipei's representative

in Geneva. (Note: At the Japan rep's request, AIT did not
mention the planned April 24 U.S.-Japan meeting with WHO
Director-General Chan. End Note.) The U.S. also has found it
difficult ascertaining the precise level of Taiwan's
participation in WHO technical meetings. AIT intends to work
closely with TCDC to clarify this issue. AIT and other reps
agreed that posting a schedule of meetings on the WHO website
would be helpful.

Future Coordination
--------------


4. (C) The meeting concluded with participants agreeing to
coordinate locally in Taipei in support of enhancing Taiwan's
meaningful participation in WHO activities. All agreed that
more transparency on the process of choosing which WHO
meetings Taiwan could attend was needed. The participants
agreed to continue information sharing and coordination, but
in low-key fashion so as not to arouse PRC suspicions that
participating countries were trying to "gang-up" on China.
Future meetings and information exchange will be scheduled.


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