Taiwanese around the world hope that the 12th time will be the charm. Next week, the Republic of China (ROC), also know as Taiwan, will apply for a seat on the World Health Organization (WHO) and observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) under the name Taiwan.

By not having observer status, Taiwanese journalists are barred from covering the WHA, which is meeting next week, on May 19, to discuss global public health security in the 21st century.

"Taiwanese deserve the right to learn about the most important conference on global health concerns," Brian Su, press division director at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver told the Asian Pacific Post. "This year, it is expected to deal with such issues as avian flu, SARS and other health scares, as well as the implementation of the International Health Regulations."

Since 2004, the UN has refused to allow Taiwanese journalists to cover WHA-related activities because it is not a UN member.

Like many local Taiwanese in Metro Vancouver, Chian-li Hsu, an advisor for the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society (TCCS), believes that the UN prefers to play politics.

"On the one hand WHO says they are promoting human rights and democracy but on the other hand, they are barring Taiwan from covering the WHA because China says Taiwan belongs to them," he said. "I think the whole world needs to stand up when it comes to health."

In 2003, Taiwan was fatally hit by Severe Acute Respiratory Symptoms (SARS), two months after the global alert posted by WHO. Officials claim emergency response was slow because Taiwan was not allowed to receive critical information from the WHO. Instead, China was supposed to relay the information but allegedly failed to do so in a timely manner.

James Chou, an accountant advisor for TCCS says if Taiwan is a black hole of information, everyone suffers, including Canadians.

"I travel between Taiwan and Vancouver often and the diversity of the passengers on the plane sometimes makes you wonder how things would be if SARS did happen again," he said.

When Taiwan left the UN in 1971, it lost its entitlement to join the WHO — an organization it helped found. Since 1997 the Taiwan has unsuccessfully applied for WHO membership under various names, including Taiwan and even as a "health entity."

The Taiwanese-Canadian community has been concerned about the issue for quite some time, calling on the federal government to be a voice for Taiwan at the WHA.

"I don’t understand why all the WHO countries don’t speak on behalf of Taiwan," said Charlie Wu, manager of the Taiwanese Cultural Festival. "Unfortunately, people don’t often see the issue until it’s too late."