108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 243

AN ACT

Concerning participation of Taiwan in the World Health

Organization.

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 important to every citizen of

7 the world and access to the highest standards of

8 health information and services is necessary to im9 prove the public health.

10 (2) Direct and unobstructed participation in

11 international health cooperation forums and pro12 grams is beneficial for all parts of the world, espe13 cially with today’s greater potential for the cross14 border spread of various infectious diseases such as

15 the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuber16 culosis, and malaria.

17 (3) Taiwan’s population of 23,500,000 people is

18 greater than that of three-fourths of the member

19 states already in the World Health Organization

20 (WHO).

21 (4) Taiwan’s achievements in the field of health

22 are substantial, including one of the highest life ex23 pectancy levels in Asia, maternal and infant mor24 tality rates comparable to those of western countries,

25 the eradication of such infectious diseases as chol26 era, smallpox, and the plague, and the first to eradi-
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1 cate polio and provide children with hepatitis B vac2 cinations.

3 (5) The United States Centers for Disease Con4 trol and Prevention and its Taiwan counterpart

5 agencies have enjoyed close collaboration on a wide

6 range of public health issues.

7 (6) In recent years Taiwan has expressed a will8 ingness to assist financially and technically in inter9 national aid and health activities supported by the

10 WHO.

11 (7) On January 14, 2001, an earthquake, reg12 istering between 7.6 and 7.9 on the Richter scale,

13 struck El Salvador. In response, the Taiwanese gov14 ernment sent 2 rescue teams, consisting of 90 indi15 viduals specializing in firefighting, medicine, and

16 civil engineering. The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign

17 Affairs also donated $200,000 in relief aid to the

18 Salvadoran Government.

19 (8) The World Health Assembly has allowed ob20 servers to participate in the activities of the organi21 zation, including the Palestine Liberation Organiza22 tion in 1974, the Order of Malta, and the Holy See

23 in the early 1950s.

24 (9) The United States, in the 1994 Taiwan Pol25 icy Review, declared its intention to support Tai-
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1 wan’s participation in appropriate international or2 ganizations.

3 (10) Public Law 106–137 required the Sec4 retary of State to submit a report to the Congress

5 on efforts by the executive branch to support Tai6 wan’s participation in international organizations, in

7 particular the WHO.

8 (11) In light of all benefits that Taiwan’s par9 ticipation in the WHO can bring to the state of

10 health not only in Taiwan, but also regionally and

11 globally, Taiwan and its 23,500,000 people should

12 have appropriate and meaningful participation in the

13 WHO.

14 (12) On May 11, 2001, President Bush stated

15 in his letter to Senator Murkowski that the United

16 States ‘‘should find opportunities for Taiwan’s voice

17 to be heard in international organizations in order to

18 make a contribution, even if membership is not pos19 sible’’, further stating that his Administration ‘‘has

20 focused on finding concrete ways for Taiwan to ben21 efit and contribute to the WHO’’.

22 (13) In his speech made in the World Medical

23 Association on May 14, 2002, Secretary of Health

24 and Human Services Tommy Thompson announced

25 ‘‘America’s work for a healthy world cuts across po-
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1 litical lines. That is why my government supports

2 Taiwan’s efforts to gain observership status at the

3 World Health Assembly. We know this is a con4 troversial issue, but we do not shrink from taking a

5 public stance on it. The people of Taiwan deserve

6 the same level of public health as citizens of every

7 nation on earth, and we support them in their ef8 forts to achieve it’’.

9 (14) The Government of the Republic of China

10 on Taiwan, in response to an appeal from the

11 United Nations and the United States for resources

12 to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, donated

13 $1,000,000 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tu14 berculosis and Malaria in December 2002.

15 (b) PLAN.—The Secretary of State is authorized—

16 (1) to initiate a United States plan to endorse

17 and obtain observer status for Taiwan at the annual

18 week-long summit of the World Health Assembly in

19 May 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland; and

20 (2) to instruct the United States delegation to

21 Geneva to implement that plan.

22 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 14 days after the date

23 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall
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1 submit a report to Congress in unclassified form describ2 ing the action taken under subsection (b).

Passed the Senate May 1, 2003.

Attest:

Secretary.
108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 243

AN ACT

Concerning participation of Taiwan in the World

Health Organization.