108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4019
AN ACT
To address the participation of Taiwan in the
World Health Organization.
108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4019
AN ACT
To address the participation of Taiwan in the World Health
Organization.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. CONCERNING THE PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN
IN THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings:
(1) Good health is important to every citizen of
the world and access to the highest standards of
health information and services is necessary to im-
prove the public health.
(2) Direct and unobstructed participation in
international health cooperation forums and pro-
grams is beneficial for all parts of the world, espe-
cially today with the great potential for the cross-
border spread of various infectious diseases such as
the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuber-
culosis, and malaria.
(3) Taiwan’s population of 23,500,000 people is
greater than that of 3⁄4 of the member states already
in the World Health Organization (WHO).
(4) Taiwan’s achievements in the field of health
are substantial, including—
(A) attaining—
(i) 1 of the highest life expectancy lev-
els in Asia; and
(ii) maternal and infant mortality
rates comparable to those of western coun-
tries;
(B) eradicating such infectious diseases as
cholera, smallpox, the plague, and polio; and
(C) providing children with hepatitis B
vaccinations.
(5) The United States Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention and its counterpart agencies in
Taiwan have enjoyed close collaboration on a wide
range of public health issues.
(6) In recent years Taiwan has expressed a will-
ingness to assist financially and technically in inter-
national aid and health activities supported by the
WHO.
(7) On January 14, 2001, an earthquake, reg-
istering between 7.6 and 7.9 on the Richter scale,
struck El Salvador. In response, the Taiwanese Gov-
ernment sent 2 rescue teams, consisting of 90 indi-
viduals specializing in firefighting, medicine, and
civil engineering. The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs also donated $200,000 in relief aid to the
Salvadoran Government.
(8) The World Health Assembly has allowed ob-
servers to participate in the activities of the organi-
zation, including the Palestine Liberation Organiza-
tion in 1974, the Order of Malta, and the Holy See
in the early 1950’s.
(9) The United States, in the 1994 Taiwan Pol-
icy Review, declared its intention to support Tai-
wan’s participation in appropriate international or-
ganizations.
(10) Public Law 106–137 required the Sec-
retary of State to submit a report to Congress on ef-
forts by the executive branch to support Taiwan’s
participation in international organizations, in par-
ticular the WHO.
(11) In light of all benefits that Taiwan’s par-
ticipation in the WHO can bring to the state of
health not only in Taiwan, but also regionally and
globally, Taiwan and its 23,500,000 people should
have appropriate and meaningful participation in the
WHO.
(12) On May 11, 2001, President Bush stated
in a letter to Senator Murkowski that the United
States ‘‘should find opportunities for Taiwan’s voice
to be heard in international organizations in order to
make a contribution, even if membership is not pos-
sible’’, further stating that the administration ‘‘has
focused on finding concrete ways for Taiwan to ben-
efit and contribute to the WHO’’.
(13) In his speech made in the World Medical
Association on May 14, 2002, Secretary of Health
and Human Services Tommy Thompson announced
‘‘America’s work for a healthy world cuts across po-
litical lines. That is why my government supports
Taiwan’s efforts to gain observership status at the
World Health Assembly. We know this is a con-
troversial issue, but we do not shrink from taking a
public stance on it. The people of Taiwan deserve
the same level of public health as citizens of every
nation on earth, and we support them in their ef-
forts to achieve it’’.
(14) The Government of the Republic of China
on Taiwan, in response to an appeal from the
United Nations and the United States for resources
to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, donated
$1,000,000 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tu-
berculosis, and Malaria in December 2002.
(15) In 2003, the outbreak of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused 84 deaths in
Taiwan.
(16) Avian influenza, commonly known as bird
flu, has reemerged in Asia, with strains of the influ-
enza reported by the People’s Republic of China,
Cambodia, 
Indonesia, 
Japan, 
Pakistan, 
South
Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.
(17) The SARS and avian influenza outbreaks
illustrate that disease knows no boundaries and em-
phasize the importance of allowing all people access
to the WHO.
(18) As the pace of globalization quickens and
the spread of infectious disease accelerates, it is cru-
cial that all people, including the people of Taiwan,
be given the opportunity to participate in inter-
national health organizations such as the WHO.
(19) The Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices acknowledged during the 2003 World Health
Assembly meeting that ‘‘[t]he need for effective pub-
lic health exists among all peoples’’.
(b) PLAN.—The Secretary of State is authorized to—
(1) initiate a United States plan to endorse and
obtain observer status for Taiwan at the annual
week-long summit of the World Health Assembly
each year in Geneva, Switzerland;
(2) instruct the United States delegation to the
World Health Assembly in Geneva to implement that
plan; and
(3) introduce a resolution in support of observer
status for Taiwan at the summit of the World
Health Assembly.
(c) REPORT CONCERNING OBSERVER STATUS FOR
TAIWAN AT THE SUMMIT OF THE WORLD HEALTH AS-
SEMBLY.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and not later than April 1 of each
year thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit a re-
port to the Congress, in unclassified form, describing the
United States plan to endorse and obtain observer status
for Taiwan at the annual week-long summit of the World
Health Assembly (WHA) held by the World Health Orga-
nization (WHO) in May of each year in Geneva, Switzer-
land. Each report shall include the following:
(1) An account of the efforts the Secretary of
State has made, following the last meeting of the
World Health Assembly, to encourage WHO member
states to promote Taiwan’s bid to obtain observer
status.
(2) The steps the Secretary of State will take
to endorse and obtain observer status at the next
annual meeting of the World Health Assembly in
Geneva, Switzerland.
Passed the House of Representatives April 21, 2004.
Attest:
Clerk.