For immediate release                                                                                                      April 24, 2002

STATE DEPARTMENT WHO PLAN: "NOT VERY ENERGIZED"

"Not very energized" is how Congressional sources described the State Department's plan, dated 4/22/02 and transmitted to Congress pursuant to PL 107-158, to "endorse and obtain observer status for Taiwan" in the World Health Organization.

"Basically, they used the old Chinese saying - there's no way (mei-you ban-fa)," one source said of the plan.

"This is hardly a plan," stated FAPA President Wu Ming-chi. "Congress expected a robust, detailed description of how the State Department would proceed from now through the May 2002 Geneva meeting to get Taiwan observer status in the WHO. All the State Department gave was a report on why the process will be, in their words, "a difficult one."

"President Bush and Secretary Tommy Thompson have indicated their support for Taiwan's participation in the WHO," Wu continued. "The State Department should put together a game plan as to how this will be done, not give excuses as to why it will be hard to do."

For the text of the plan