TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Despite Taiwan's exclusion from the 2020 World Health Assembly (WHA), international leaders have spoken up for the island nation and bashed China for asserting a negative political influence on global affairs, including U.S. State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, who showed her support by posting a Taiwanese flag on Twitter.

Following the opening of the WHA's 73rd session on Monday (May 18), Ortagus took to Twitter to criticize the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) discrimination against Taiwan. She said its "spiteful" attempts to silence Taiwan have "exposed the emptiness" of its promises to be transparent and cooperative during the pandemic and that its actions have only accentuated the difference between Taiwan and China.

Below her comments, Ortagus added an image of the Taiwanese flag and shared a press statement from the State Department on Taiwan's exclusion from the WHA. She also added the hashtag "TweetForTaiwan," which has been part of the U.S. campaign to rally support for Taiwan's participation in the international health conference.

In a similar Twitter post, U.S. Congressman Marco Rubio also acknowledged the island's contributions to the global community during the outbreak. He exclaimed that the U.S. stands with Taiwan, which it regards as an important security and economic partner in the Indo-Pacific, reported New Talk.

The spiteful action by the PRC to silence Taiwan exposes the emptiness of its claims to want transparency and cooperation to fight the pandemic, and makes the difference between China and Taiwan ever more stark. #TweetforTaiwan https://t.co/gtBbnEyUzP

— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) May 18, 2020

Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the @WHO is critical especially as we combat #COVID_19. The U.S. stands w/ #Taiwan, a fellow democracy that shares our values and is an important security & economic partner in the Indo-Pacific #TweetforTaiwanhttps://t.co/ia76OHB7pN

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 18, 2020