Taipei, April 26 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday extended his gratitude to the World Medical Association (WMA) for its support for the name change of Taiwan's membership in the international organization.
Chen made the remark while meeting with visiting chairperson of the WMA Council Yoram Blachar at the Presidential Office. He also said that he hopes the WMA will continue to support Taiwan in its bid to take part in the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is the highest governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO) . The WHO will meet in Geneva May 16-25.
The WMA approved of changing the name of its Taiwan branch from the Chinese Medical Association Taipei to the Taiwan Medical Association during its general assembly in Tokyo Oct. 5-9 last year.
Every year the WMA has passed a proposal to support Taiwan in its bid for WHA entry as an observer, Chen said, adding that he believes the global representative body for physicians will submit a similar proposal to the WHA this year based on the idea that medical treatment knows no boundaries.
The president indicated that many countries in the international community have noticed the fact that no political issues can erase the importance of "global medical treatment, " noting that many countries, including the United States and Japan, voted for Taiwan's bid for WHA observership last year.
The U.S., Japan and 23 of Taiwan's official allies voted for the "Taiwan issue" to be on the WHA agenda last year, but was met with harsh resistance from China. It marked Taiwan's eighth setback in a row.
Taiwan will relaunch its observership bid during the upcoming WHA meeting in May, Chen said.