Mr. Speaker, for a number of years parliamentarians from all parties have given support for Taiwan to have observer status with meaningful participation in the World Health Organization.
Recently, Taiwan's President Chen formally applied to the director-general of the WHO for membership in that organization. Taiwan believes that it has a major role to play in the prevention of the spread of diseases such as SARS and AIDS and in the promotion of global health safety, to the benefit of all the countries of our world.
I urge all members of this House to continue their support for Taiwan in its bid for WHO observer status and to continue their support as Taiwan pursues its goal of membership in the World Health Organization.