Breaking news?

The Guardian has this headline:

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) Taiwan president says China approves Taiwan participation in world health body.

President Ma Ying-jeou's announcement that Taiwan would join this year's decision-making World Health Assembly in Geneva comes amid warming ties between the two sides, which split amid civil war in 1949. The mainland still claims the island as part of its territory.

Beijing normally objects to Taipei's participation in any international organizations because that symbolizes national sovereignty, and has successfully blocked Taipei's participation in WHO since the island was expelled from the U.N. in 1971.

China did not immediately give explicit confirmation of Ma's announcement. (... and why not?)

But in Beijing, Taiwan Affairs Office Spokesman Li Weiyi implied it was true by saying that China is "optimistic" about Taiwan's participation in this year's assembly, which begins on May 18 in Geneva. (... that's it? 'optimistic'? .. this news coming now wouldn't really be about allowing Ma to take the sting out of the DPP's planned May 17th rally by arguing that it is the KMT who have succeeded in gaining international participation where the DPP failed would it?)

Taiwanese Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan showed Taiwanese TV stations a formal invitation to the May meeting from WHO Director General Margaret Chan, suggesting that the island's participation was a done deal.

Speaking to staffers at the Presidential Office, Ma said Beijing had lifted its long-time objections to Taipei's participation.

"The mainland authorities have made a friendly gesture," Ma said. (oh how sweet of them, and so convenient too)

Ma spokesman Wang Yu-chi said the island would participate in the assembly as an observer under the name Chinese Taipei, the same title it uses in the Olympics. (please see my post here predicting this would happen)

Relations between China and Taiwan have improved significantly since Ma's election last March. Predecessor Chen Shui-bian was reviled by Beijing, because of his support for formal Taiwanese independence.

Taiwan including under Chen pushed hard for WHO participation, because of the access to key medical information it provides. It used the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003 as an example, saying that Beijing's refusal to let it participate undermined its ability to deal effectively with the deadly epidemic.

China approves? Here we have a Taiwanese President who appears to be acting like an obedient puppy who shows a small bone to his friends but claims his master gave him a big one. Taiwanese now have to 'thank' China for 'allowing' them to have some meaningless and powerless level of 'participation' in the WHO. This wouldn't have anything to do with Swine Flu and the desire of KMT-CCP to avoid the accusations levelled at China when they blocked aid to Taiwan at the time of the Bird Flu outbreak. This is simply humiliating for Taiwanese and typical of a President who see's going cap in hand to China as a strategy of strength for the future of his party's position of power.