23rd May 2023: The United States proposes the idea of Taiwan to join the Global Meet on health cooperation. Why is China not happy? Read the ReferencePepper!
According to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the United States is urging the World Health Organisation to welcome Taiwan as an 'observer' at its annual meeting, which will take place in Geneva from May 21 to May 30.
"Inviting Taiwan as an observer would exemplify the WHO’s commitment to an inclusive, 'health for all' approach to international health cooperation" Mr. Blinken said.
Since 2017, China has been preventing Taiwan from attending the WHO's annual session in an effort to diplomatically marginalize the island, which opposes China's assertions of authority. China views Taiwan as one of its territories.
According to him, Washington's one-China policy is in keeping with the U.S. backing of participation. The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) conform to the notion that there is a single sovereign nation by the name of China, whose PRC is the only true government and Taiwan is a fundamental component of that China.
But why does China have a problem?
But for those of you who are not aware, let's find Taiwan on the map first and give you a brief about the nation:
Taiwan, with Taipei as its Capital, is an island country which shares it’s maritime border with People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Philippines.
With an area of 36,188 km², Taiwan is slightly larger than Belgium but densely populated for its size with a population of 23.4 million (as per 2021 data).
Taiwan’s official currency is the New Taiwan dollar or TWD
You must have heard and read about what you know as Taiwan being referred to as the Republic of China (ROC). Don’t get confused as the Republic of China (ROC) is the official name of Taiwan.
The Country was formerly known as Formosa.
So two things to remember now-
PRC= People’s Republic of China = China
(We will refer this Country as China in the article)
ROC = Republic of China =Taiwan
(This country will be mentioned as Taiwan in the article)
Now, a peep into the past to understand the background of rift between China and Taiwan:
The nation currently known as ROC changed hands quite a few times before it got official recognition by this name. But we will only start from the 17th Century onwards as the sequence of events post that are relevant to this article.
Formosa was a colony of Netherlands for about 40 years till mid 17th Century |
Enjoyed independence for almost 20 years |
China took control over the country around late 17th Century and rule for 2 Centuries |
Japan takes over in 1895 post the first Sino-Japanese war and current day ROC/Taiwan became a colony again. |
Handed over back to Nationalist Chinese after Japan lost in World War II |
From here on, it becomes interesting
Chinese Civil War between The Chinese Communist Party(CCP) and the Nationalist Party - Kuomintang (KMT). Though the civil war took place in 2 stages, the 1949 unrest resulted in the leader (Marshall Chiang Kai Shek) of Taiwan to take refuge in the island of Taiwan where he formed a temporary Government in 1950. 15% of the immigrant population led by Marshall Shek took over the island and ROC was recreated in Taiwan.
- Japan signed the San Francisco Treaty in 1951 abandoning its sovereignty over Taïwan.
- President Nixon, the 37th US President, during his China visit in February 1972 in an attempt by both countries to improve relationship, signed the Shanghai Communique. We are highlighting excerpts related to Taiwan from the Agreement: “The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. It reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves. With this prospect in mind, it affirms the ultimate objective of the withdrawal of all U.S. forces and military installations from Taiwan. In the meantime, it will progressively reduce its forces and military installations on Taiwan as the tension in the area diminishes.” Source: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d203
China, since then, has been reminding the US about this document signed by Nixon in 1972.
Did you know that Taiwan is not a part of United Nations?
Well, it desperately wants to but China(PRC) would not allow that to happen as it claims that Taiwan is not a sovereign state which is the fundamental requirement for a country to be included in the UN….it is a part of China (as per China).
You would ask how can China command that?
The advantage China has is that it is a member of the United Nations, and is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
- Even though Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy with an independent Government for over 7 decades and has managed its economy well, is only accepted by only 15 Nations officially as a Democratic government.
- Even though countries have diplomatic missions based out of ROC, they do not name them as their official Embassies or Consulates.
- The Taiwanese citizens can use their passports to travel around the world, Taiwan has its own currency, own military….basically a self sufficient independently run State, but still pleading for that Status to be recognized by the world.
- Taiwan ranked at No.22 in 2020 and was ahead of Poland, Austria, Argentina etc. but still is named as “Taiwan province of China” on most websites.
Quite funny…isn’t it?
The 15 Nations which recognize Taiwan as a Country are:
Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Eswatini, Tuvalu, Nauru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Marshall Isalnds, Palau, and the Vatican City (U.N. non-member).
The US as we mentioned earlier switched sides with the signing of Shanghai Communique in 1972.
Now that you know the entire background, let’s move to current day issue.
If you read the news, Taiwan, China and the US have been in limelight post Russia’s invasion on Ukraine. We will cover the intervention by US and other nations in a separate article and right now only focus on China and Taiwan.
What is Taiwan complaining about and why?
Taiwan always had reasons to feel cornered and threatened from the Superpower China as :
- China has always been quite vocal in it's stance about One-China.
- The Shanghai Communique was one of the main points of discussion between China and the US even way back in 1972. And China managed to get US to agree to their terms.
- China has been able to dissuade UN from including Taiwan from the membership list.
- The protests in Hong Kong and the way they were handled by China raised concerns not only in Taiwan but the entire world
- And now with Russia setting a precedent that invasions can happen in time and age, Taiwan is speculating a similar act of invasion.
Taiwan has raised concerns accusing China of Air Force missions near the island of Taiwan and has been complaining to the world for almost a year now. In response, Taiwan also scrambled fighter jets, issued warnings and displayed their readiness with an air missile defence system. Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, said the ROC would strengthen its defences “to ensure that nobody can force Taiwan to take the path China has laid out for us”.
Taiwan has frantically started approaching Nations for support, especially the US, anticipating a similar fate as Ukraine’s. More than 50 countries have established unofficial diplomatic relations with Taiwan/RoC, including the United States, France, Australia, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.
What is China’s stance and reaction?
China denies any plans or thoughts of invasion clearly in public. China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in a Press Conference dismissed any link between the issues of Ukraine and Taiwan. She was quite stern in her opinion and answering a question by the Phoenix TV correspondent, said" It is unwise of certain people of the Taiwan authorities to latch on to and exploit the Ukraine issue to their advantage." "Taiwan is not Ukraine," she added, "Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China. This is an indisputable legal and historical fact."
Eve during the Beijing Winter Olympics International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams was asked about Taiwan's presence at the closing ceremony. Following his comments, Beijing Games spokesperson Yan Jiarong said: "There is only one China".
The Chinese ambassador to Washington has warned that the US and China could end up at war over Taiwan if US in any way tries to back Taiwan’s independence.
“If the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the United States, keep going down the road for independence, it most likely will involve China and the United States, the two big countries, in a military conflict,” said Qin Gang, a Chinese diplomat currently serving as the Chinese Ambassador to the United States.
In a virtual meeting last November, President Xi Jinping told Joe Biden that anyone advocating for Taiwanese independence was “playing with fire”
"Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations," Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said. "The United Nations is an international governmental organization composed of sovereign states... Taiwan is a part of China."
Back to the main article:
Taiwan's foreign ministry expressed gratitude to the US for backing the island nation's participation, saying that to exclude the island would be "completely beyond reason" and detrimental to international health cooperation.