Taipei, May 15 (CNA) Although Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Organization (WHO) as a full member was rebuffed again, the new strategy it presented this year has "not been a failure" as it took the issue to a new "moral high ground" instead of political disputes between Taiwan and China, according to scholars attending a forum Tuesday.
Taiwan's new strategy to bid for full WHO membership instead of trying for observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA) "challenged the WHO on its founding principle of 'health for all' and made the international community question whether the organization has yielded to political reality, thus taking the people of Taiwan to the moral high ground, " said David Huang, an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of European and American Studies (IEAS).
The new proposal also shows the world that Taiwan has not been happy with its minimal participation in WHO activities, the illegitimacy of the way it has been treated in the bidding process, and the illegality of a memorandum of understanding that the WHO Secretariat signed privately with China in 2005, according to Lin Cheng-yi, a research fellow at Academia Sinica's IEAS.
In a "broader perspective, " Taiwan did not lose in the international spectrum, said Lo Chi-cheng, a professor at Soochow University who serves as the executive commissioner of Taiwan Thinktank, organizer of the forum that reviewed Taiwan's strategy in its 2007 WHO bid.
"The U.S. and Japan are still supportive of Taiwan's bid as a WHA observer, and the European Union maintains its support of Taiwan's meaningful participation in WHO activities as well. In other words, Taiwan has not taken a step back. Instead, Taiwan has expressed its position more clearly, " Lo said.
The scholars also claimed that Taiwan's proposal this year made it "once again the limelight" of the annual WHA meeting, and claimed that this will be helpful for Taiwan's promotion for its WHO bid, that first started in 1995.
It called into question among countries all over the world whether it is fair that Taiwan, a country that has donated over US$300 million during the past 10 years to more than 90 countries for international medical and humanitarian relief, has not been accepted as a WHO member, according to Chiu Ya-wen, a researcher at the National Health Research Institute.
Just 17 countries voted in favor of Taiwan's membership being discussed, while 148 voted against the idea.