Taiwan asks allies to talk to WHO on press access to annual assembly

Taipei, May 15 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday that its representative office in Geneva will ask Taiwan's allies and like-minded countries to talk with the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding access by Central News Agency reporters to its upcoming annual assembly, which has been denied.

Assisting journalists from Taiwan to cover the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) gathering has always been one of the priority tasks for the foreign ministry and its representative office in Geneva, MOFA spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said.

Although no concrete progress has yet been made, the foreign ministry and its Geneva office will continue to address the issue with the WHO, while assisting CNA's overseas correspondents in London and Brussels to obtain press passes to cover the event, Lee said.

This is the second year in a row that Taiwan has not been invited to attend the WHA, the decision-making body of the WHO, which will hold its 71st session May 21-26 in Geneva.

It is also the second straight year in which an application submitted by CNA to cover the event has been turned down.

In an e-mail to CNA journalists from the WHO, the statement read: "We regret to inform you that your registration for the meeting has not been approved."

The response did not mention the reason for the registration rejection.