Taiwan Angry at WHO Exclusion

GENEVA (AP) -- Taiwan's health minister says the island feels "very angry" that it was not invited to the World Health Organization assembly in Geneva.

Chen Shih-Chung attributed the U.N. body's refusal to let Taiwan participate to tensions between mainland China and Taiwan.

Arguing that "disease knows no border or politics," Chen said Sunday that excluding Taiwan from the WHO could create a "potentially fatal leak in the global health system."

His comments follow statements by a Chinese official earlier in the day that blamed Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party for not acknowledging the "One China" principle.

China has refused to let Taiwan participate in the WHO assembly since Taiwanese elected a pro-independence president in 2016.

(KA)