Taiwan's exclusion from the upcoming World Health Assembly would harm the global response to the coronavirus pandemic and cannot be excused by mere rules of procedure, the island's health minister said on Wednesday.
Chen Shih-chung told international media at a news conference that global health officials "have not been honest and failed in their responsibilities," in an apparent reference to the UN World Health Organization that oversees the assembly.
"As I said since the beginning of the epidemic, no one is able to accurately predict how the situation will be," Chen said.
"So the most important thing in the world pandemic is transparency. Each one has to share what they know about it."