Photo taken on Jan. 30, 2020 shows the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Xinhua

The resumed session of the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) was held online on Monday, and ends on Saturday. The meeting is crucial to global cooperation in fighting a second wave of COVID-19 that many countries are now facing. 

But at the instigation of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of the island of Taiwan, the region's few remaining so-called "diplomatic allies" once again stood up and called for "inviting Taiwan to the World Health Organization meeting," which took up valuable global public space, and was refuted on the spot. The WHA president announced on Monday that the proposal to invite Taiwan to participate in the WHO would not be included in the agenda, according to Taiwan media reports. The political manipulation of the DPP has hit another ignominious failure. 

WHO is a United Nations specialized agency composed of sovereign states. Taiwan, as part of China, is not eligible to join. Taiwan participated as an observer in the WHA from 2008 to 2016, which was an outcome of cross-Straits consultation on the premise that Taiwan's then-leader Ma Ying-jeou recognized the 1992 Consensus. If the current DPP authorities really want to participate in the WHA, they can also do so in this way. But it is clear that DPP's real purpose is to take advantage of the assembly to expand its "international space," and to seek "secession" using the epidemic as an excuse. 

The one-China principle is a steel plate that DPP authorities are not able to bite even if they want to. All the excuses given by them are untenable. The information mechanism of the WHO on the epidemic has always been smooth, and it was the DPP authorities who have been putting up various obstacles to interfere with anti-epidemic cooperation. 

The Chinese mainland has had Taiwan experts to Wuhan to learn about the situation during the outbreak, and the mainland authorities also helped Taiwan compatriots stranded in Hubei return to Taiwan in the spirit of "one family from both sides of the Taiwan Straits."

However, the DPP authorities refused to cooperate with the mainland to take them back, and tried every means to obstruct and delay. This shows that they do not care about the health of the people in Taiwan. They just used them as an excuse to go to the international community to bluff their way in, and gain as much sympathy as possible.

The DPP authorities have acted like a buffoon in this global anti-pandemic battle. It mainly launched a lengthy attack on WHO and its director-general, Tedros Adhanom, and that was even more intense than that of the US. The DPP's "Foreign Minister" Joseph Wu once tweeted a complaint about the WHO: "What's wrong with you?" Chen Chien-jen, Taiwan's deputy leader, singling out Tedros for "failing to do enough." Taiwanese netizens supporting DPP were even more brazen about WHO, hurling personal attacks, foul language, defamation and racial discrimination. 

We cannot help but ask: How can DPP authorities shamelessly beg to join after they have done such an unbearable thing to the WHO? This is nothing but their political stunt. 

Washington has also fiercely attacked the WHO out of demands of domestic politics. It notified UN Secretary-General António Guterres in July it will withdraw from the WHO in July next year. The move was widely considered extremely irresponsible by the international community. It's obvious that the abominable acts of DPP authorities against WHO have received encouragement from Washington. However, now that Joe Biden has won the election, as widely declared by US media, it's foreseeable that the US will greatly adjust its attitude toward WHO. By that time, won't the DPP authorities feel embarrassed? 

Taiwan will have no so-called international space if it rejects the 1992 Consensus. Any political manipulation by DPP authorities will be futile. Since Tsai Ing-wen took office, the number of countries which Taiwan considers "diplomatic allies" has dropped to 15 from 22, and likely to become zero. This shows that "Taiwan secession" is a dead end. This is an undeniable fact that the DPP authorities cannot circumvent.