Legal Status of Taiwan in the World Health Organization

• Author: Bin Li
• Position: Lecturer of international law at Beihang University School of Law in Beijing. LL.B. (Ocean Univ. of China)
• Pages: 171-176

Page 171

From 1997 to 2007, in order to fight for its so-called "international room," Taiwan continuously endeavored to try and squeeze into the Word Health Organization (Hereinafter referred to as the "WHO"). However, the outcome has always been disappointing for Taiwan due to the diplomatic endeavor of the People's Republic of China. In 2007, the fight especially attracted the world's attention because Taiwan bid for membership to the WHO instead of observer status for which it had previously been bidding. In fact, Taiwan's request for WHO membership had a big impression on the world and the reason why Taiwan has had a great interest in the WHO is not to engage in meaningful participation within the WHO, as propagandized by Taiwanese authorities, but to eventually acquire recognition as an independent state.1 Although Taiwan has failed to achieve its goals for 11 years, accession to membership of the WHO has been, and still will be, a political goal pursued by Taiwanese authorities. The question is whether this goal can be backed from a legal perspective. It is submitted that the answer is "No."

1. Taiwan is not entitled to accede to the WHO

Chapter Three of the WHO Constitution provides some conditions for WHO membership and associate membership. According to the relevant articles, membership in the WHO shall be open to all states.2 Meanwhile, territories or groups of territories,Page 172 which are not responsible for the conduct of their own international relations, may be admitted as associate members by the Health Assembly upon application made on behalf of such a territory or group of territories by the member or other authority having responsibility for the international relations of the territory in question.3 Therefore, the WHO can only admit states as its members. The threshold of associate membership for some territories is comparatively lower than that of sovereign states. However, under this circumstance, one premise must be met and that is that such a grant must be made with the prior consent of the state that has responsibility for that territory's international relations.

The "One-China Principle" has been the basic policy adopted by the government of the People's Republic of China to address the issue of Taiwan. This principle means that Taiwan is an integral part of China and the PRC government is the only legitimate government representing China in the international community. Therefore, as a province of China, Taiwan is not an independent state and cannot be granted WHO membership.4 On a second thought, in accordance with the WHO Constitution, there is only one way Taiwan can legitimately accede to the WHO and that is by being granted associate membership as a territory. Such a grant requires the consent and application of the PRC government. In other words, this would force Taiwan to admit to being a territory of China. Obviously, Taiwanese authorities are unwilling to adopt this option.

Hence, as mentioned above, there is no possibility for Taiwan to accede to WHO membership.

2. IHR and the COP of FCTC cannot be used as tools for Taiwan to pursue its statehood

IHR 2005 and Taiwan

The WHO Constitution is the basic document of the organization. Apart from this document, several documents have been negotiated and enacted by the WHO in order to implement its constitution, such as the International Health Regulations (Hereinafter referred to as the "IHR"). The IHR was newly revised in 2005. In accordance with thePage 173 general principle of international...