Tuesday in Beijing that Taiwan's attempt to join the World Health Organization (WHO) was doomed to failure, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

"The Taiwan authorities' attempt to use the health card as a way of seeking 'de jure Taiwan independence' will never succeed," said spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

The 60th World Health Assembly (WHA) announced Monday that a proposal to make Taiwan a "member state" of the WHO will not be included in the conference's provisional agenda.

Jiang said Taiwan authorities had garnered support from a few countries for a "Taiwan membership" proposal but most WHO member states opposed the proposal.

The WHO is a specialized UN agency whose membership is only open to sovereign states, and Taiwan is clearly not eligible to join it, she said.

The rejection of the proposal demonstrates that the international community supports the one-China principle, she added.

This is the 11th time in as many years that a Taiwan-related proposal has been rejected by the assembly.

Addressing Monday's conference, Chinese Minister of Health Gao Qiang said the motive behind the "Taiwan membership" proposal is not the well-being of the Taiwan people, but "Taiwan independence", and is driven by the political agenda of certain figures on the island.

"This proposal flouts the UN Charter and the WHO Constitution, violates the resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the WHA, challenges the internationally-acknowledged one-China principle, sabotages the consensus of the WHA of the past 10 consecutive years, and insults member states," Gao said.

The Chinese government has always attached great importance to the health of Taiwan compatriots and will do whatever is necessary to safeguard their interests, Gao said.

In 2005, the Ministry of Health and the WHO Secretariat signed a MOU on Taiwan health and medical experts' participation in WHO technical activities.

Under the MOU, the WHO can invite health experts from Taiwan to participate in its technical activities, and send staff and experts to Taiwan to investigate health issues and provide technical health assistance.

In the event of a severe public health emergency in Taiwan, WHO can also send staff and experts to Taiwan for field visits, and provide technical health assistance.

Since the MOU was signed, 12 groups of experts from Taiwan have taken part in WHO technical activities.