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. 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 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. 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.
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.