WHO Cannot Invite Taiwan To WHA Over Chinese Objections, Legal Counsel Says; World’s Middle Powers Seek To Maintain Multilateral Approach To Pandemic
The Hill: WHO says it cannot invite Taiwan to upcoming global health meeting
“The World Health Organization’s (WHO) director-general does not have the power to invite Taiwan to observe an upcoming global health meeting, the organization’s legal representative said Monday, amid protests from China. WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon said Monday that ‘divergent views’ among member states of the United Nations prevents Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from extending an invitation to an outside country to participate in meetings of the international body. ‘To put it crisply, director-generals only extend invitations when it’s clear that member states support doing so, that director-generals have a mandate, a basis to do so,’ Solomon said in a briefing with reporters…” (Kelly, 5/11).
New York Times: China Is Defensive. The U.S. Is Absent. Can the Rest of the World Fill the Void?
“When Australia started pushing for a global inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, no other countries were on board, and officials had no idea how it would work or how harshly China might react. Europe soon joined the effort anyway, moving to take up the idea with the World Health Organization later this month. And Australia, in its newfound role as global catalyst, has become both a major target of Chinese anger and the sudden leader of a push to bolster international institutions that the United States has abandoned under President Trump. … Confronting a once-in-a-generation crisis, the world’s middle powers are urgently trying to revive the old norms of can-do multilateralism…” (Cave/Kwai, 5/11).
Fox News: Bipartisan lawmakers push to have Taiwan included in World Health Agency meeting, China pushes back (Chakraborty/Casiano, 5/11).
The Hill: China slams New Zealand for supporting Taiwan’s participation in global health meeting (Kelly, 5/11).
New York Times: U.S. to Accuse China of Trying to Hack Vaccine Data, as Virus Redirects Cyberattacks (Sanger/Perlroth, 5/10).
NPR: U.S. Officials: Beware Of China And Others Trying To Steal COVID-19 Research (Myre, 5/11).
NPR: In Coronavirus War Of Words With The U.S., China Pulls No Punches (Feng/Cheng, 5/11).
Wall Street Journal: Tom Cotton Has a China Coronavirus Attack Plan (Seib, 5/11).
The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.