China

China, one of the founders of WHO, participated in the International Health Conference in 1946, which resutled in the drafting of the WHO constitution, turning over the functions of the Office International d'Hygiene Publique (OIHP) to WHO and setting up of an Interim Commision to prepare for the First WOrld Health Assembly. It joined the WHO on 22 July 1946. China attended the First World Health Assembly to constitute WHO. The Third World Health Assembly adopted a resolution in which it resolved “that the resumption by China of full participation in the work of the Organization will be welcomed.” From the second session in September 1951 until the twenty-second session in 1971, China was represented at the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific by China (Taiwan). At the Twenty-fifth World Health Assembly, it was declared that, “with effect from 10 May 1972, the People’s Republic of China should represent China at the Organization”. Since the Twenty–fourth session of the Regional Committee in 1973, China was represented at the Regional Committee meetings by the People’s Republic of China.

There was initially a WHO Country Liaison Office in Taipei, China (Taiwan). In 1959, the WHO Representative Office based in Taipei, China (Taiwan) was established to cover China (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Korea and the United States Trust Territories (Guam and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and Ryukyu Island). After its closure in 30 June 1972, the WHO Representative Office in Beijing, China (the People's Republic of China) was established in 1981 to cover China.