Washington has said “time and format constraints” were behind the decision not to include Taiwan in a virtual COVID-19 ministerial meeting of around 40 countries hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Wednesday.
The first ever virtual COVID-19 meeting was joined by multiple foreign ministers and leaders from international organizations to discuss issues such as equity of vaccine distribution, and global health security, according to the State Department.
Incidentally, China’s ambassador to Washington Qin Gang (??) was in attendance, as was World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
China has repeatedly blocked or objected to Taipei’s inclusion in global health forums during the course of the pandemic, while in April 2020 WHO boss Tedros said he had been the victim of a campaign of abuse originating from Taiwan tacitly endorsed by the government, an allegation rejected by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
When asked during a post-meeting press event if Taiwan’s foreign minister had not been invited due to Chinese objections, U.S. Global Coordinator for COVID-19 Response and Health Security Gayle Smith did not directly address the question.
“Our intention was to make sure that we had speakers from all regions. As you know, we had very, very extensive participation at the President’s summit. And to your point, yes, the intention is absolutely that this needs to be an expanded group over time.”
A State Department spokesperson later told CNA that the U.S. had been unable to invite many close partners in the global fight against COVID-19 “due to time and format constraints,” describing the situation as “unfortunate.”
“While not all of our allies and partners around the world are participating in the COVID-19 Ministerial, we are committed to collaborating with them on a global COVID-19 response and strengthening global health security.
“We believe that all partners need to work together to end this pandemic and pave the way for a safer future. This is the beginning of what we hope will be regular and expanded meetings.”
Meanwhile, in Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (???) said that despite Taiwan and the U.S. being close partners in the fight against the pandemic, Washington had told Taipei that only a small number of countries would be invited to attend this round of the virtual meeting.
Ou added MOFA had told Washington that Taiwan was willing to contribute to the global fight against the COVID-19 and would continue to work with the U.S. and other like-minded countries in this regard.
Taiwan’s former Vice President Chen Chien-jen (???) was previously invited to speak at another virtual global COVID-19 summit convened by U.S. President Joe Biden in late September. The summit brought together representatives from 180 countries, as well as international groups and non-governmental organizations.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel