Photo taken on Jan. 22, 2020 shows an exterior view of the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Rejecting a proposal from several countries to invite the island of Taiwan as an observer to the meeting fully demonstrates that the one-China principle is the general trend in the international community and cannot be challenged, the spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, shortly after the World Health Assembly (WHA) rejected the participation of the island. 

Before the 74th annual meeting of the WHA opened, over 150 countries supported China's decision through diplomatic channels. At the same time, more than 80 countries sent letters to the WHO to express their firm support for the one-China principal and opposition to the island's participation into the WHA, the spokesperson said in a statement released on Monday night. 

The central government attaches great importance to the public health and livelihood of the local residents in the island. With the pretext of the one-China principle, it has properly arranged the participation of the island in global public health affairs. Since the epidemic outbreak, the government has reported the epidemic to the island 260 times and approved 16 exchange activities of public health experts from the island with the WHO. 

Also, there was a contact point set up in the island, to enable smooth information sharing, the spokesperson said, noting that the alleged loophole in global anti-epidemic system is an outright lie. 

"We urge the DPP authorities again to stop exploiting the epidemic to incite secessionism. We also call on certain countries to stop politicizing the public health issue while using the Taiwan question to interfere in China's internal affairs," the ministry' spokesperson said.