Friends, Enemies, or Frenemies? China-Taiwan Discord in the World Health Organization and Its Significance

This article examines the China-Taiwan diplomatic truce through the prism of Taiwan’s post-2009 participation in the World Health Organization (WHO). It argues that Taipei’s inclusion in the International Health Regulations (IHR) and its observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) did not signify a suspension of the cross-Strait dispute over Taipei’s capacity to participate in international affairs independently of Beijing. While Taipei ostensibly sought a WHA observership to strengthen Taiwan’s health security, it also wished to validate Taiwan’s international legal sovereignty. Beijing, for its part, appeared to have compromised its claim over Taiwan’s sovereignty by abandoning the diplomatic isolation of Taiwan in international organizations (IGOs), but in practice enforced its sovereign claim by denying Taiwan unrestricted access to activities of the WHO and other IGOs. Thus, China-Taiwan interaction on the WHO issue created a facade of cross-Strait diplomatic détente. The appearance of a cross-Strait truce benefited Beijing by demonstrating China’s goodwill towards Taiwan and by highlighting the practical gains ensuing from cooperative cross-Strait relations. It also benefited Taipei by showcasing an improvement in Taiwan’s standing in global affairs as a result of the governmental strategy. However, it did not end the China-Taiwan contestations of sovereignty, nor did it transform them into unambiguous friends. Instead, it turned them into ‘frenemies’: competitive and mistrustful, yet convinced that cooperation – however tenuous or illusory – advanced their (conflicting) objectives more than the bitter enmity of the past decades.

是敵、是友、還是亦敵亦友？世界衛生組織中的中臺分歧及其意義

本文分析臺灣2009年後加入世界衛生組織等事件並由此攷察中臺的外交休戰 。本文認為，臺北加入國際衛生條例的運作及其在世界衛生大會的觀察者身份並不意味著兩岸對臺北獨立於北京參與國際事務能力問題分歧的擱置。表面上看臺灣爭取到世界衛生大會的觀察者身份是為了增強臺灣的衛生安全，但同時它也希望籍此使臺灣的國家主權在國際上生效。北京似乎在其對臺灣的主權要求上有所妥協，放棄了對臺灣在國際組織中的外交孤立。但通過否決臺灣對世界衛生組織和其它國際組織活動的無限制參與， 北京實際上增強了其主權訴求。中臺關係於是在世界衛生組織問題上產生了一個兩岸外交緩和的表象。兩岸表面的休戰對北京是有利的。它展現了北京對臺灣的善意，並突出了在兩岸關係上進行合作所帶來的實際收益。而這對臺北也是有利的。它展現出臺灣政府的外交策略提高了臺灣在國際事務中的地位。但這並不會結束中臺在主權上的爭端，也不會將雙方轉變為完全的朋友。相反，這將雙方變為亦敵亦友：相互競爭、互不信任，卻又不得不承認比起過去的互為死敵，合作（雖然脆弱而虛幻）有利於促進各自（對立）的目標。

Translated from English by Xin Huang