For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 29, 2003
Statement by the President on Taiwan and WHO
Today I have signed into law S. 243, an Act concerning
participation of Taiwan in the World Health Organization. The United
States fully supports the overall goal of Taiwan's participation in the
work of the World Health Organization, including observership. The
United States has expressed publicly its firm support for Taiwan's
observer status and will continue to do so. The executive branch
shall, as is consistent with the President's constitutional authority
to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs, construe the Act to be
consistent with the "one China" policy of the United States, which
remains unchanged. The executive branch also shall construe the
reporting require-ment in section 1(c) of the Act in a manner
consistent with the President's constitutional authority to withhold
information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, the
national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the
performance of the Executive's constitutional duties. The Secretary of
State will continue, of course, as a matter of comity to keep the
Congress appropriately informed of the matters addressed by the
reporting requirement.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 29, 2003.
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