Taiwan's government slammed the World Health Organization's "indifference" to the health rights of Taiwanese people and for capitulating to China on Monday after failing to get invited to a meeting of its decision-making body.
Taiwan is excluded from most global organizations such as the WHO because of objections from China, which considers the island one of its provinces not a country.
Taiwan, with the strong backing of major Western powers, had been lobbying for access to the WHO's World Health Assembly, which opens on Monday, as an observer.