TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The US House of Representatives "China Week" ended with the passage of a bill supporting Taiwan's full participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday (Sept. 12).

Over the past four days, the House passed bills related to China or Taiwan, including measures to deter Beijing from attacking Taiwan by exposing the assets of officials, strengthening cooperation with Taiwan and Pacific Island nations, and empowering regulatory agencies to scrutinize Chinese land acquisition deals. On Thursday, the House passed the “No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act,” which requires that any WHO pandemic-related agreements or conventions be considered treaties that the Senate must approve.

The bill was introduced by pro-Taiwan Representative Tom Tiffany, aiming to increase WHO transparency to ensure that "the safety of American citizens remains in the hands of the US, not a corrupt international organization." Representative Andy Ogles, a bill supporter, expressed dissatisfaction with the WHO’s failure to heed Taiwan’s early warnings about COVID.

Ogles introduced an amendment that offered a statement of policy support for Taiwan's full participation in the WHO, which was approved on Thursday. Ogles said that for a long time, the US has allowed Beijing to dictate diplomatic policy and set the agenda and membership in major international organizations, including the UN resulting in decades of concessions that have left Taiwan with only 12 diplomatic allies.

Ogles pointed out that China has successfully exerted external pressure on the WHO to exclude Taiwan. He said that when Taiwan tried to warn the WHO on Dec. 31, 2019, about a potential human-to-human transmission, “no one listened.” 

He said when Taiwanese experts visited Wuhan in mid-January 2020 and found evidence of human-to-human transmission their findings were ignored. Meanwhile, the WHO at the time claimed “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus."

He said these issues stem from China's insistence that “under no circumstance could Taiwan be given a seat at the table at the World Health Organization.” The representative said that as a consequence "We can only guess how many untold thousands of American lives were lost as a result.” 

Ogles said what is known is that decades of US foreign policy has “prioritized appeasing the PRC over the security of the American people, and it needs to stop.”