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Published Date: 2019-05-22
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung has met with his US counterpart, Alex Azar, on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Though China has barred Taiwan from this year’s assembly meeting, Chen has still led a delegation to Geneva to show Taiwan’s determination to take part.
After the meeting on Tuesday, Azar tweeted that the two discussed global health issues and the Ebola virus. He says that the people of Taiwan need a voice at the World Health Assembly.
Chen has also discussed the meeting. He says that Azar assured him of his continued support for Taiwan.
In addition to building up international support, Taiwan is also working to build awareness of its exclusion from the World Health Assembly. Foreign ministry spokesperson Andrew Lee explained the goal of this campaign on Wednesday.
“As Minister Chen said, Taiwan has been drawing a lot of attention in Geneva. Although we’re unable to participate in the WHA officially, we want to use these global issues to highlight just how much Taiwan can contribute. This way, the international community will understand how much it stands to lose without Taiwan," said Lee.