For immediate release       May 2, 2003

SENATE PASSES "WHO FOR TAIWAN" BILL

Last night, the Senate unanimously passed WHO For Taiwan legislation on the suspension calendar "authorizing the U.S. Secretary of State (1) to initiate a United States plan to endorse and obtain observer status for Taiwan at the annual week-long summit of the World Health Assembly in May 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland; and (2) to instruct the United States delegation to Geneva to implement that plan."

The bill, originally introduced in the House on January 29, by Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), with 29 co-sponsors presses the Bush Administration to put some teeth into the effort to obtain meaningful participation by Taiwan in international organizations. It unanimously passed the House on March 11. 

FAPA President Ming-chi Wu, Ph.D. states: "With the current SARS crisis, Taiwan's lack of membership in the WHO is an outrage. Momentum is now on Taiwan's side and the United States State Department should now seize the opportunity of the upcoming WHO summit this month to right the wrong of Taiwan's exclusion from international organizations like the WHO."