II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 812 

To direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer 

status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17 (legislative day, MARCH 16), 2021 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to 

regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health 

Organization, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN IN THE WORLD 

4 HEALTH ORGANIZATION. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find6 ings: 

7 (1) The World Health Organization (WHO) is 

8 a specialized agency of the United Nations, charged 

9 with coordinating health efforts within the United 

10 Nations system. The World Health Assembly 


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1 (WHA) is the decision-making body of the WHO, 

2 which convenes annually in May to set the policies 

3 and priorities of the organization. Statehood is not 

4 a requirement for attendance at the WHA, and nu5 merous observers, including non-members and non6 governmental organizations, attended the most re7 cent virtual WHA in May 2020. 

8 (2) Taiwan began seeking to participate in the 

9 WHO as an observer in 1997. In 2009, with strong 

10 support from successive United States Administra11 tions, Congress, and like-minded WHO Member 

12 States, and during a period of improved Cross-Strait 

13 relations, Taiwan received an invitation to attend 

14 the WHA as an observer under the name ‘‘Chinese 

15 Taipei’’. Taiwan received the same invitation each 

16 year until 2016, when following the election of Presi17 dent Tsai-Ing Wen of the Democratic Progressive 

18 Party, Taiwan’s engagement in the international 

19 community began facing increased resistance from 

20 the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan’s in21 vitation to the 2016 WHA was received late and in22 cluded new language conditioning Taiwan’s partici23 pation on the PRC’s ‘‘one China principle’’. The 

24 WHO did not invite Taiwan to attend the WHA as 

25 an observer in 2017, 2018, 2019, or 2020. 


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1 (3) Taiwan remains a model contributor to 

2 world health, having provided financial and technical 

3 assistance to respond to numerous global health 

4 challenges. Taiwan has invested over 

5 $6,000,000,000 in international medical and human6 itarian aid efforts impacting over 80 countries since 

7 1996. In 2014, Taiwan responded to the Ebola crisis 

8 by donating $1,000,000 and providing 100,000 sets 

9 of personal protective equipment. Through the Glob10 al Cooperation and Training Framework, the United 

11 States and Taiwan have jointly conducted training 

12 programs for experts to combat MERS, Dengue 

13 Fever, and Zika. In 2020, after successfully con14 taining the spread of the novel coronavirus within its 

15 borders while upholding democratic principles, Tai16 wan generously donated millions of pieces of per17 sonal protective equipment and COVID–19 tests to 

18 countries in need. These diseases know no borders, 

19 and Taiwan’s needless exclusion from global health 

20 cooperation increases the dangers presented by glob21 al pandemics. 

22 (4) Taiwan’s international engagement has 

23 faced increased resistance from the PRC. Taiwan 

24 was not invited to the 2016 Assembly of the Inter25 national Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), despite 


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1 participating as a guest at the organization’s prior 

2 summit in 2013. Taiwan’s requests to participate in 

3 the General Assembly of the International Criminal 

4 Police Organization (INTERPOL) have also been 

5 rejected. In May 2017, PRC delegates disrupted a 

6 meeting of the Kimberley Process on conflict dia7 monds held in Perth, Australia, until delegates from 

8 Taiwan were asked to leave. Since 2016, the Demo9 cratic Republic of Sa ̃o Tome ́ and Prı ́ncipe, the Re10 public of Panama, the Dominican Republic, Burkina 

11 Faso, the Republic of El Salvador, the Solomon Is12 lands, and the Republic of Kiribati have terminated 

13 longstanding diplomatic relationships with Taiwan 

14 and granted diplomatic recognition to the PRC. 

15 (5) Congress has established a policy of support 

16 for Taiwan’s participation in international bodies 

17 that address shared transnational challenges, par18 ticularly in the WHO. Congress passed H.R. 1794 

19 in the 106th Congress, H.R. 428 in the 107th Con20 gress, and S. 2092 in the 108th Congress to direct 

21 the Secretary of State to establish a strategy for, 

22 and to report annually to Congress on, efforts to ob23 tain observer status for Taiwan at the WHA. Con24 gress also passed H.R. 1151 in the 113th Congress, 

25 directing the Secretary to report on a strategy to 


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1 gain observer status for Taiwan at the ICAO Assem2 bly, and H.R. 1853 in the 114th Congress, directing 

3 the Secretary to report on a strategy to gain ob4 server status for Taiwan at the INTERPOL Assem5 bly. However, since 2016, Taiwan has not received 

6 an invitation to attend any of these events as an ob7 server. 

8 (b) AUGMENTATION OF REPORT CONCERNING THE

9 PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN IN THE WORLD HEALTH OR10 GANIZATION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 1 

12 of the Act entitled, ‘‘To address the participation of 

13 Taiwan in the World Health Organization’’ (Public 

14 Law 108–235; 22 U.S.C. 290 note) is amended by 

15 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(3) An account of the changes and improve17 ments the Secretary of State has made to the 

18 United States plan to endorse and obtain observer 

19 status for Taiwan at the World Health Assembly, 

20 following any annual meetings of the World Health 

21 Assembly at which Taiwan did not obtain observer 

22 status.’’. 

23 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 

24 by paragraph (1) shall take effect and apply begin25 ning with the first report required under subsection 


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1 (c) of section 1 of the Act entitled, ‘‘To address the 

2 participation of Taiwan in the World Health Organi3 zation’’ (Public Law 108–235; 22 U.S.C. 290 note) 

4 that is submitted after the date of the enactment of 

5 this Act. 

Æ 


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