The US Senate passed a bill late Thursday calling on the State Department to submit a plan to help Taiwan regain its observer status at the World Health Organization (WHO), Reuters reported.
Taiwan has been excluded from most global organizations, including the WHO, due to objections from China. Beijing has always considered the island as one of its provinces rather than a separate country.
The bill was sponsored by Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The two are also co-chairs of the Senate’s Taiwan-focused group (Taiwan Caucus).
“The United States must continue to side with Taiwan and do more to reaffirm our support for Taiwan’s international participation,” Menendez said in a statement Friday.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a similar Bill earlier this year, but there is no word yet on when the measure could be put up for a vote in the House.
