Taiwan Says It Wasn’t Invited to WHO Meeting After China ‘Obstruction’

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (C) gestures during the National Day celebration in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei on October 10, 2020. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Beijing’s interference has again prevented Taiwan from participating in a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting, the island’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.

Taiwan didn’t receive an invitation from the WHO to attend the virtual meeting of the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA), the United Nations agency’s decision-making body, the Ministry said on Nov. 8. It expressed its “regret and dissatisfaction” over both Beijing’s “obstruction” and the WHO’s “continued negligence of the health and human rights of Taiwan’s 23.5 million people.”