Taiwan President Ma unhappy and said WHO a “double-dealer.”

Ma vents his displeasure at WHO, China

The China Post May 11, 2011President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday lashed out at the World Health Organization's (WHO) reference to Taiwan as a province of China and vowed to protest to mainland China over the issue. At a press conference, Ma, calling the United Nations organization a "double-dealer," criticized WHO for its attempt to denigrate the status of the Republic of China's government, saying it was "held hostage" by Chinese pressure. "We can never accept this unfair and unreasonable treatment," Ma stressed. WHO's invitation to Taiwan addresses its representative as Mr. Minister and calls Taiwan's government Chinese Taipei, stating that Taiwan is participating as an observer, according to the president, who pointed out that WHO's leaked internal document refers to Taiwan as a Chinese province. This appears to be what the president meant when he called WHO a "double-dealer." "We are extremely unhappy about it, and I have directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lodge a protest with WHO," Ma was quoted as saying. A prestigious international organization, WHO should not be doing things incommensurate with its status, Ma said, adding he had instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to protest, "absolutely without delay," should similar attempts at derogating the country's status happen again. Directing his indignation against China, Ma said if Taiwan remained isolated in the international community of nations, relations across the Taiwan Strait could not steadily improve. "Taiwan wants safety, prosperity and, above all, dignity, and as President of the Republic of China, I cannot shirk my duty to uphold Taiwan's dignity and safety and the rights of its people," he said, while criticizing the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for failing to do something for Taiwan on the international stage when it was in power. With past antagonism and mutual distrust behind the two sides, they should try to accumulate mutual trust and create a win-win situation, Ma said, adding he was going to protest because China was going in the opposite direction by hurting the feelings of the Taiwan people. DPP also vented its displeasure against WHO, saying it was going to move for an official protest against it at the Legislature. Taiwan's representatives should "absolutely" not go to the World Health Assembly (WHA) this year, because participation in it would mean that we accepted the reference as the official basis for future references to Taiwan, Kuan Pi-ling, a DPP lawmaker, said at a DPP press conference yesterday afternoon. However, Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達), minister of the Executive Yuan's Department of Health, will go to the assembly to present a written protest and ask countries friendly to Taiwan to speak on its behalf, according to Timothy Yang, MOFA minister. Chiu, Yang, and Philip Yang, minister of the Executive Yuan's Government Information Office, were on hand at President Ma's press conference.