China should not squash Taiwan's aspirations to play global role: KMT

Taipei, May 3 (CNA) Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT) has called for policymakers in Beijing not to ignore the aspirations of Taiwanese people to participate in the international community because of political disagreements.

It is the hope of the majority of people in Taiwan to take part in or return to the World Health Organization (WHO) and this expectation has never changed since Taiwan first applied to become an observer at the organization's decision making body -- the World Health Assembly (WHA) -- in 1997, the KMT said in a statement released Sunday.

The statement came after a strong response on Saturday from China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland, rejecting the United States' support of Taiwan's participation in WHO events and the upcoming WHA.

The KMT reiterated that the Chinese mission's statement should not be the final decision on the matter. It emphasized that policymakers in Beijing need to abandon their traditional thinking when dealing with Taiwan because it ignores the genuine aspirations of Taiwanese people to take part in and contribute to the world.

Citing the fact that Taiwan attended the WHA as an observer from 2009-2016, even after it lost power to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2016, the KMT said the ruling DPP should also try harder to deal with the current stalemate across the Taiwan Strait and seek to take part in WHO events in acceptable ways.

Leaders on both sides should put the interests of the Taiwanese people first so Taiwan, China and the world all emerge as winners from the current impasse, the statement concluded.