On May 19th, the 56th World Health Assembly (WHA) made the decision by the ruling of the President that it would reject the so-called bill of “inviting Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly as an observer” proposed by the Marshall Islands and a few other countries. This is the 7th time that the World Health Assembly has turned down such Taiwan related bills.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized UN organization that opens only to sovereign states. Taiwan, as a part of China, is not eligible to join the organization or participate in the WHA. Blood is thicker than water. The central government of China has always attached great importance to and has been very much concerned about the health and safety of all Chinese people, including our Taiwan compatriots. After the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on the island, the central government and the mainland compatriots have shown great concern and have taken a series of measures in promoting information exchanges and providing material aid across the Taiwan Straits. The central government have agreed to the visit by WHO experts to Taiwan and the attendance by Taiwan health experts in technical meetings on SARS prevention and treatment by the WHO. Taiwan's access to health information and technical aid is unblocked.

This year, the Taiwan authorities politicized the SARS issue by instigating a handful of countries to put forward to the WHA a Taiwan-related bill. The bill violated the relevant resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and went against the purposes and principles of the WHO. Thus, it was inevitably rejected by the WHA. This fact demonstrates that no attempt to create "two Chinas" or "One China, One Taiwan" on the international arena will succeed.