US President Donald Trump’s administration is carrying out a new US campaign to support Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO, but this diplomatic effort lacks a critical counter to China’s “Big Lie” about its representation of Taiwan at the UN.

As the US Congress has urged for many years, strong US leadership to support Taiwan in international organizations is long overdue. The US and other countries are praising the democratic “Taiwan model” in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in the global interests of truth and transparency.

A portrait of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, is shown as exiled Tibetans marked his birthday in Dharmasala, India, on April 25 last year.
Photo: AP

Tibet’s self-declared government-in-exile in India yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of a boy named as Tibetan Buddhism’s second-highest figure by calling on China to account for his whereabouts.

A poll published on Tuesday by the US-based Pew Research Center found that two-thirds of the nation’s citizens identify as “Taiwanese,” rather than as “Chinese.” The findings reflect similar polls over the past several years and demonstrate a growing trend.

A professor cited in an article about the poll said that Taiwan’s democracy and China’s diplomatic pressuring of Taiwan resulted in the growth of a Taiwanese national consciousness. This may be partly true, but the issue is not that simple.