TAIWAN is requesting the 13th CNMI Legislature to support its bid to be given an observer status in the World Health Organization.
“The people of Taiwan would greatly appreciate it if the CNMI 13th Legislature could express support for Taiwan’s observer status in WHO,” said Leo C.J. Lee, director-general of the Taipeh Economic and Cultural Office on Guam in a letter to House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider.
He told Hofschneider, R-Saipan, that Taiwan would greatly appreciate if the CNMI would extend its support.
Last March 14, the European Parliament passed a resolution in support of Taiwan’s observer status for the next annual meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland on May 14.
Last March 19, the U.S Congress passed H.R. 2739 which seeks to authorize a U.S. plan to endorse and obtain observer status for Taiwan at the same summit.
Last year, President Bush stated in his letter to Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, that the U.S. “should find opportunities for Taiwan’s voice to be heard in international organizations in order to make a contribution, even if membership is not possible,” further stating that his administration “has focused on findings concrete ways for Taiwan to benefit and contribute to WHO.”
Taiwan, which calls itself the “Republic of China,” has no diplomatic relations with the U.S. But America has maintained close, although unofficial, relations with Taiwan, which is considered by China as a renegade province.
