Taiwan seeking independence under pretext of COVID-19 doomed to fail: Chinese FM

BEIJING -- China on Friday expressed firm opposition to political maneuvers of its Taiwan region as the latter hypes up intention to participate in the upcoming World Health Assembly, saying the scheme of "seeking independence under the pretext of pandemic response" is doomed to fail.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks when asked to comment on media reports that Taiwan authorities are lobbying for its participation in the 73rd WHA session, saying its absence will lead to a "gap" in the global fight against the coronavirus. A few countries including the United States have requested the WHO to invite Taiwan as an observer and are pushing for discussions about the proposal.

"Taiwan's participation in the assembly must be in accordance with the one-China principle," Zhao told a routine press briefing, adding the political basis for the region to do so has ceased to exist as its authorities have stuck to separatism since taking office in 2016.

Zhao said the Chinese central government attaches great importance to the health and well-being of Taiwan compatriots, quoting notifications of COVID-19 information to the region, and the attendance to WHO technical activities by their health experts since last year.

"Taiwan has unimpeded access to information about COVID-19, so there is no such thing as a 'gap' in the global fight against the coronavirus," said the spokesperson.

He said the rejections by the WHA over the years to Taiwan-related proposals by a few countries fully demonstrate that the one-China principle represents the popular will of the international community, which "brooks no challenge."

The purpose of a few countries insisting on discussing Taiwan-related proposals is to politicize health issues and serve their own political interests at the cost of compromising global response to the pandemic, Zhao said.

"This will only result in severely disrupting the assembly's agenda and undermining the joint international response to COVID-19, and will meet resolute opposition by the majority of the international community," Zhao added.