106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1794

AN ACT

Concerning the participation of Taiwan in the

World Health Organization (WHO).
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1794

AN ACT

Concerning the participation of Taiwan in the World Health

Organization (WHO).

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. CONCERNING THE PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN

2 IN THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

3 (WHO).

4 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following

5 findings:

6 (1) Good health is a basic right for every citizen

7 of the world and access to the highest standards of

8 health information and services is necessary to help

9 guarantee this right.

10 (2) Direct and unobstructed participation in

11 international health cooperation forums and pro12 grams is therefore crucial, especially with today’s

13 greater potential for the cross-border spread of var14 ious infectious diseases such as AIDS.

15 (3) The World Health Organization (WHO) set

16 forth in the first chapter of its charter the objective

17 of attaining the highest possible level of health for

18 all people.

19 (4) In 1977, the World Health Organization es20 tablished ‘‘Health For All By The Year 2000’’ as its

21 overriding priority and reaffirmed that central vision

22 with the initiation of its ‘‘Health For All’’ renewal

23 process in 1995.

24 (5) Taiwan’s population of 21,000,000 people is

25 larger than that of three-fourths of the member

26 states already in the World Health Organization.
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•HR 1794 EH

1 (6) Taiwan’s achievements in the field of health

2 are substantial, including one of the highest life ex3 pectancy levels in Asia, maternal and infant mor4 tality rates comparable to those of western countries,

5 the eradication of such infectious diseases as chol6 era, smallpox, and the plague, and the first to be rid

7 of polio and provide children with free hepatitis B

8 vaccinations.

9 (7) The World Health Organization was unable

10 to assist Taiwan with an outbreak of enterovirus 71

11 which killed 70 Taiwanese children and infected

12 more than 1,100 Taiwanese children in 1998.

13 (8) In recent years Taiwan has expressed a will14 ingness to assist financially or technically in WHO15 supported international aid and health activities, but

16 has ultimately been unable to render such assist17 ance.

18 (9) The World Health Organization allows ob19 servers to participate in the activities of the organi20 zation.

21 (10) The United States, in the 1994 Taiwan

22 Policy Review, declared its intention to support Tai23 wan’s participation in appropriate international or24 ganizations.
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•HR 1794 EH

1 (11) In light of all of the benefits that Taiwan’s

2 participation in the World Health Organization

3 could bring to the state of health not only in Tai4 wan, but also regionally and globally, Taiwan and its

5 21,000,000 people should have appropriate and

6 meaningful participation in the World Health Orga7 nization.

8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than January 1, 2000, the

9 Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Congress

10 on the efforts of the Secretary to fulfill the commitment

11 made in the 1994 Taiwan Policy Review to more actively

12 support Taiwan’s participation in international organiza13 tions, in particular the World Health Organization

14 (WHO).

Passed the House of Representatives October 4,

1999.

Attest:

Clerk.