UK Parliamentary Taiwan Group Reaffirms Support for Taiwan’s WHO Participation as Han Kuo-yu Leads Delegation to Britain

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan Speaker Han Kuo-yu led a cross-party delegation of lawmakers to the United Kingdom beginning May 13, visiting the UK Parliament and meeting British political figures. At a reception hosted by the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group, co-chair Sarah Champion of the Labour Party reaffirmed support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. She said she had raised Taiwan’s exclusion from the World Health Organization several times with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stressing that excluding Taiwan serves no one’s interests because Taiwan has long been an active contributor to global public health. The 79th World Health Assembly is scheduled to take place in Geneva from May 18 to 23, but Taiwan has not yet received an invitation. Champion also emphasized that UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 did not grant the People’s Republic of China sovereignty over Taiwan, nor did it determine Taiwan’s status at the UN or its participation in UN specialized agencies. She noted that the UK Parliament has taken a clear position on the issue. Champion also voiced support for Taiwan’s bid to join the CPTPP, saying Taiwan’s contribution would strengthen the rules-based trading system. In his remarks, Han thanked Taiwan’s friends across the UK and said Taiwan’s greatest pride remains its democracy, which its people cherish and are committed to defending. Taiwan’s representative to the UK, Vincent Yao, said Taiwan-UK ties have made significant progress in energy, technology, trade and other areas, and thanked British lawmakers and officials for repeatedly expressing concern over peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.