TAIPEI - Taiwan’s already precarious relations with old rival China took another step back this week after the self-ruled island said Beijing blocked it from the annual World Health Organization assembly, a move that may prompt Taipei to rethink how they treat the other side.

Officials in Taipei said Tuesday the deadline had lapsed to receive an invitation to the May 22-31 World Health Assembly in Geneva. They blamed China for using its clout in the World Health Organization (WHO) to block the invitation.

“If the other side overlooks our appeals and grave reminders, that is sure to severely hurt people’s feelings and spark a backlash in Taiwan public opinion, even causing cross-Strait (China-Taiwan) relations to drift further,” said Chiu Chui-cheng, spokesman for the Taiwan government’s Mainland Affairs Council.

“We want to appeal once more to the other side not to offend Taiwan public opinion,” Chiu said. “The Beijing authorities should reflect deeply on avoidance of old-fashioned, hawkish policy mentalities and actions that could cause huge harm to a resumption of cross-Strait relations.”

Beijing sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory rather than a state entitled to membership in international organizations. The two sides have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to Taiwan.

Taiwan is unlikely to retaliate in real terms over the WHO slight, but the flap brings a string of other China issues into sharper focus and may increase popular anger in Taiwan while prompting a new search for ways Taipei can work with Beijing without selling down local autonomy.

“Taiwan people will feel frustrated with the assertive response of China,” said Huang Kwei-bo, associate diplomacy professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “Beijing’s image will get worse.”

Over the past year, China sailed an aircraft carrier around Taiwan, scaled back Taiwan-bound tourism and, since March, has detained a Taiwanese activist without announcing any formal charges against him.

Under former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, Beijing let Taipei observe the World Health Assembly every year since 2009 as “Chinese Taipei,” implying a link to China.

A spokesman for the Communist government’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Monday Taiwan could not observe this year’s assembly, where the WHO sets policies and approves a budget, because current President Tsai Ing-wen has not endorsed the Beijing view that both sides belong to a single China – a term Ma accepted.

Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party takes a guarded view of relations with China. Some party members want Taiwan to declare formal independence from Beijing.

China’s actions “will definitely push Taiwan people further and further away and severely destroy peace and stability between the two sides,” Tsai’s party said in a statement Tuesday. “The authorities in Beijing must reflect and correctly see this negative outcome.”

Taiwanese see the world health assemblies as opportunities to learn from the 192 WHO member states and share their own experience in infectious disease control, and improve medical services in developing countries.

Taiwan has just 21 diplomatic allies compared to more than 170 that recognize Beijing, making it hard for Taiwan to gain access to international bodies.

“The only barrier is politics and to speak more specifically, it’s just China,” ruling party legislator Yeh Yi-chin said Monday. “But where we’d like to appeal and remind everyone is, does the whole world want to let China, one country, destroy the global medical safety net?”

Beijing periodically uses its diplomatic connections and clout as the world’s second largest economy to block Taiwan from joining the United Nations, of which the WHO is a special agency. Last year Taiwan was rejected from observing a session of the U.N. International Civil Aviation Organization and from participating in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Those barriers would keep affecting how Taiwanese see Beijing. “We need to see what happens next time at the United Nations,” Huang said.

Some Taiwanese may pressure Tsai to find a way of negotiating with China that lets the other side open doors again internationally without making Taiwan give up autonomy. Some scholars expect Tsai to propose a new formula for China relations in the second half of 2017.

The U.S. State Department backed Taiwan’s cause of joining the World Health Assembly this year, saying it supports the island’s “meaningful participation” in international bodies that require statehood.

"The United States remains committed to supporting Taiwan as it seeks to expand its already significant contributions to addressing global challenges,” a spokesperson said this week. “We encourage authorities in Beijing and Taipei to engage in constructive dialogue, on the basis of dignity and respect."</s>BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese government said on Wednesday that the health of people in Taiwan is not being put at risk by Taiwan’s inability to attend a U.N. health meeting this year as there is no barrier to technical or medical exchanges and aid.

Self-ruled Taiwan has accused Beijing of obstructing its efforts to attend the May 22-31 annual meeting in Geneva of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Ties between China and Taiwan have worsened since the election last year of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who - unlike the island’s previous China-friendly administration - has not acknowledged the “one China” principle.

Taiwan says health should not be politicized and that leaving Taiwan out of dialogue puts the world’s health safety-net and health of people on the island at risk.

But the health of people in Taiwan and the island’s lack of attendance at the meeting are two different matters, An Fengshan, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a regular news briefing.

Taiwan’s information exchange channels with the WHO are smooth, Taiwan can attend technical WHO meetings and if needed WHO experts can visit the island, An said.

“These arrangements ensure that Taiwan can effectively and in a timely way deal with sudden public health issues whether on the island or internationally,” he added.

China views democratic Taiwan as a renegade province to be retaken with the use of force if necessary, and says other countries and international organizations should not recognize it or treat as a separate country.

Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, which recognizes the “one China” policy centered on Beijing, and it never formally takes part in U.N. meetings. But it has in the past been given observer status at some conferences with Beijing’s acquiescence.

Taiwan is still sending a delegation to the meeting even though it does not have an invitation, warning China that attempts to exclude it could irreversibly damage ties.

The official China Daily, in a Wednesday editorial, said Taiwan’s delegation will likely try to “make a scene” to garner sympathy, but the real goal of Tsai’s government is clear.

“She is seeking to hijack public health in Taiwan to serve her political goal of winning de facto statehood recognition for the island,” it said.

(This story has been refiled to correct day of week in lead.)</s>TAIPEI, May 9 (Reuters) - Taiwan will send a delegation to a U.N. health meeting even though it does not have an invitation, the government said on Tuesday, as it warned China that efforts to exclude it could lead to "irreversible" damage to ties.

Self-ruled Taiwan wants to attend a May 22-31 annual meeting in Geneva of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), but it has accused Beijing of obstructing its efforts.

China views democratic Taiwan as a renegade province to be taken back with the use of force, if necessary, and other countries and international organisations should not recognise it or treat as a separate country.

Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, which recognises "one China" centred on Beijing, and it never formally takes part in U.N. meetings. But it has in the past been given observer status at some conferences, with Beijing's acquiescence.

But ties between the mainland and the island have become strained since the election last year of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who has not acknowledged the "one China" principle, unlike the island's previous China-friendly administration.

Beijing warned last year that Taiwan's acceptance of the "one China" principle was a condition for the retention of its observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA).

In an unusually assertive stand for the island, its foreign ministry said Chen Shih-chung, minister of health and welfare, would travel with a delegation to Geneva for the meeting "to exchange views" with WHA members on global health and safety.

Taiwan's top China policymaking office said Beijing's "rigid and confrontational" approach would have serious consequences.

"Taiwan's public opinion cannot be lightly insulted," the island's Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.

"Beijing authorities should carefully consider the serious consequences of insisting that Taiwan not be allowed to participate in the WHA and to continue to pressure Taiwan's international space ... (It will) result in irreversible damage to cross-Strait relations."

A Chinese government delegation this month objected to a Taiwan delegation attending a meeting in Australia on conflict diamonds, forcing the removal of the Taiwan delegates.

In September, a U.N. aviation agency snubbed Taiwan by not inviting it to a conference in Canada.

Taiwan has said its allies and friends such as the United States, Canada and Japan have supported its attendance at the health meeting. It says health should not be politicized and that leaving Taiwan out of dialogue puts the world's health safety-net at risk.

China said on Monday the island's DPP administration should bear "full responsibility" for their absence from the Geneva meeting, due to its refusal to accept "one China".

"This places an obstacle for Taiwan's participation," An Fengshan, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said in a statement. (Reporting by J.R. Wu; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel)</s>TAIPEI: Taiwan will send a delegation to a U.N. health meeting even though it does not have an invitation, the government said on Tuesday, warning China that attempts to exclude it could irreversibly damage ties.

Self-ruled Taiwan has accused Beijing of obstructing its efforts to attend the May 22-31 annual meeting in Geneva of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO).

China views democratic Taiwan as a renegade province to be retaken with the use of force if necessary, and says other countries and international organisations should not recognise it or treat as a separate country.

Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, which recognises the "one China" policy centred on Beijing, and it never formally takes part in U.N. meetings. But it has in the past been given observer status at some conferences with Beijing's acquiescence.

Ties between the mainland and the island have worsened since the election last year of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who - unlike the island's previous China-friendly administration - has not acknowledged the "one China" principle.

Beijing warned last year that Taiwan's acceptance of that principle was a condition for the retention of its observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA).

In an unusually assertive stand for the island, its foreign ministry said Chen Shih-chung, minister of health and welfare, would lead a delegation to Geneva "to exchange views" with WHA members on global health and safety.

Taiwan's top China policymaking office said Beijing's "rigid and confrontational" approach would have serious consequences.

"Beijing authorities should carefully consider the serious consequences of insisting that Taiwan not be allowed to participate in the WHA and to continue to pressure Taiwan's international space," the island's Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.

That would "result in irreversible damage to cross-Strait relations."

In Geneva, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said the matter was not yet resolved although invitations had been sent.

"Officially the deadline has passed but yet it is my understanding that the discussions are still ongoing and we are also on our side waiting for any developments."

"To my understanding the one China policy is a UN-wide accepted policy," he told a regular U.N. briefing.

A Chinese government delegation this month objected to a Taiwan attending a meeting in Australia on conflict diamonds, forcing the removal of Taiwanese delegates.

In September, a U.N. aviation agency snubbed Taiwan by not inviting it to a conference in Canada.

Tsai's DPP said the government would not bow to Chinese pressure.

Taiwan has said its allies and friends such as the United States, Canada and Japan have supported its attendance at the health meeting. It says health should not be politicized and that leaving Taiwan out of dialogue puts the world's health safety-net at risk.

China said on Monday the island's DPP administration should bear "full responsibility" for their absence from the Geneva meeting, due to its refusal to accept "one China".

"This places an obstacle for Taiwan's participation," An Fengshan, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said in a statement.

Asked whether China had asked Switzerland to block the entry of the Taiwan delegation, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a news briefing: "No matter what the DPP authorities in Taiwan do, they are doomed to fail."</s>Taiwan said Tuesday it had been excluded from a major World Health Organisation meeting for the first time in eight years, blaming rival China for the snub as relations worsen.

Delegates attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva later this month were supposed to receive their invites by Monday.

Taiwan, which is fighting international marginalisation as Beijing puts pressure on its allies, said it had not received one.

"Mainland China pressured the WHO and blocked it from issuing us an invitation... we express strong dissatisfaction and protest," the island's Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.

Relations with China have become increasingly frosty since Beijing-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen took power almost a year ago.

China still sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification and is incensed that Tsai will not agree to the concept that there is only "one China", unlike her Beijing-friendly predecessor Ma Ying-jeou.

Under Ma, Taiwan was granted "observer status" at the WHA in 2009 -- a rare acknowledgement on the global stage.

But since Tsai took the helm, Beijing has sought to block the island from a string of international events.

China reiterated its demand that Taiwan must accept the "one China" principle and blamed Tsai's traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the WHA snub.

"The DPP has damaged the joint political basis of cross-strait relations, so the precondition for Taiwan to attend no longer exists," China's Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement Monday.

The island was expelled from the WHO in 1972, a year after losing the "China" seat at the United Nations to Beijing.

With China in the ascendant, Taiwan has shed global allies in recent decades, with only 21 countries now recognising the island's sovereignty.

Even its most powerful ally, the United States, has no official diplomatic relations.

US President Donald Trump recently rebuffed the idea of another phone call with Tsai after their protocol-busting chat following his election victory, saying he would not want to damage relations with China's President Xi Jinping.</s>Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895-1945 and the then-Nationalist government of China took over rule of the island after Japan lost the war. Japan had gained control of the island from imperial China.

But the Nationalists had to flee to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists, who to this day insist the island is an integral part of China and have never renounced the use of force to bring it under Beijing's control.

Speaking at an event in Beijing to mark the anniversary, Yu Zhengsheng, the party's fourth-ranked leader, said Taiwan's "recovery" had "washed away the national shame" of repeated foreign invasions of China.

Since 1949, the reality that the mainland and Taiwan were part of one China had never changed, Yu said, in comments carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

"Maintaining the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and maintaining no changes to the position that Taiwan is part of China is a sacred mission for all the sons and daughters of China," he added.

Many people in proudly democratic Taiwan look with concern at autocratic China, and there is little support for the two to join up any time soon.

Many Taiwanese also have a broadly more positive view of Japan than people in China or Korea, saying that Japan's rule brought progress to an undeveloped island.

Taiwan will mark what it calls Retrocession Day on Sunday at an event overseen by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou.

Taiwan will elect a new president in January, and the frontrunner is Tsai Ing-wen from the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has traditionally favoured Taiwan's formal independence.

The DPP says it believes only the island's people can decide its future. Beijing takes this to mean it wants independence.

Yu did not directly mention the election, but said people in China and Taiwan must both oppose any move to upset ties and damage rapidly improving relations.</s>Taiwan's China-friendly Nationalists are expected to be thrashed by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opposition in the election. China has been stepping up its rhetoric against the DPP as the vote nears.

Nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after a civil war with the Communists and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

"The Taiwan issue is the most important, most sensitive issue in Sino-U.S. relations," Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a regular briefing. Ma had been asked if Taiwan would feature on the Xi-Obama agenda.

"We believe that, when the leaders of China and the United States meet, they will exchange views on important issues of mutual concern," Ma said, without elaborating.

The United States severed formal ties with Taiwan in 1979 but is obligated by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, and arms sales always deeply anger China.

Beijing was also alarmed in June when the DPP's presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, visited Washington to rally support from U.S. officials and politicians.

Chen Shui-bian, the first, and so far only, DPP president, infuriated Beijing during his 2000-2008 rule.

China accused him of trying to push for independence and weaken the island's Chinese cultural heritage, even though Chen tried to maintain stable relations. Limits on cross-strait trade and transport links were slowly relaxed under his rule.

Tsai has said she favours "maintaining the status quo" when asked about her China policy. If elected, she would be Taiwan's first female president.

Ma said mainstream Taiwan public opinion wanted to continue with developing good relations with China.

"We believe that only by upholding ... opposition to 'Taiwan independence' can the path to the peaceful development of cross-strait ties be maintained and broadened," he said.

China says any formal declaration of independence would give it cause to go to war.</s>Following are key facts on ties between Taiwan and China:

* China has claimed self-ruled Taiwan through its "one China" policy since the Chinese civil war forced the defeated Nationalist forces to flee to the island in 1949 and has vowed to bring it under Beijing's rule, by force if necessary.

* China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council formally known as the People's Republic of China, has about 170 diplomatic allies. Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, has 22.

* Ties were badly strained when Chen Shui-bian from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was Taiwan president from 2000-2008 because of his independence rhetoric, even as he tried to maintain positive relations with Beijing.

* Relations warmed considerably after Ma Ying-jeou, from the China-friendly Nationalist Party, took office in May 2008. Ma steps down next year due to term limits. The DPP's Tsai Ing-wen is favoured to win next month's presidential vote.

* Last year, hundreds of students occupied Taiwan's parliament for weeks in protests nicknamed the Sunflower Movement. They demanded more transparency in trade pacts negotiated with China in the largest display of anti-China sentiment the island had seen in years.

* China, including Hong Kong, is Taiwan's top trading partner, with trade totalling just over $170 billion in 2014, official data from Taiwan shows. About 40 percent of Taiwan's exports, such as tech components and chemicals, go to China.

* Since 2008, when Taiwan President Ma came to power, Taiwan and China have signed around 23 agreements covering business and tourism, including the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in 2010, aimed to further deepen ties between the two sides.

* China, with its 1.3 billion people, is also Taiwan's favourite investment destination with Taiwan companies investing over $100 billion there, private estimates show.

* About 55 percent of Taiwan's export orders are made in factories overseas, such as China.

* China and Taiwan have nearly gone to war three times since 1949, most recently ahead of the 1996 presidential election. Then, China carried out missile tests in waters close to the island hoping to prevent people voting for Lee Teng-hui, who China suspected of harbouring pro-independence views. Lee won by a landslide.

* The military balance has shifted in China's favour. China's armed forces are 2.3 million strong while Taiwan has around 215,000 full-time troops.

* China has deployed over a thousand short- and medium-range ballistic missiles as well as cruise missiles along coastal areas facing the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan's defence ministry.

* The United States is obliged to help Taiwan with the means to defend itself under the U.S. Congress 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. China always reacts angrily to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and has repeatedly demanded they stop.

* China has more than 2,000 fighter aircraft, including Russian Su-30 and Su-27 fighters. Taiwan has about 300 fighter jets and the backbone of its air force is made up of U.S.-made F-16s, French-built Mirage 2000s and Ching-kuo Indigenous Defence Fighters.</s>China should not politicise Taiwan's participation in a UN health meeting, Taiwan activists said</s>China's Taiwan Affairs Office has received Taiwan's letter of intent to join and has passed it to the AIIB's interim secretariat, Xinhua cited Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang as saying.

"The AIIB is open and inclusive," Ma said. "We welcome Taiwan to participate in the AIIB under an appropriate name."

Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan due to pressure from China. Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund.

However it is a member of the Asian Development Bank under the name of Taipei,China.

The United States has urged countries to think twice about joining the AIIB until it could show sufficient standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control. However, since Taiwan's current president Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, enmity has declined considerably and the two sides have signed a number of trade and investment deals.
A spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of People's Republic of China says Taiwan is barred from observing this year’s World Health Assembly because current President Tsai Ing-wen has not endorsed the Beijing view that both sides belong to a single China under the One-China policy; the spokesman further said that the health of people in Taiwan is not being put at risk by Taiwan's inability to attend.