WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives has passed legislation calling on the US State Department to submit a plan to help Taiwan acquire observer status at the World Health Organization (WHO).

The legislation seeks to boost the nation as it faces pressure from China. This bill, which was cleared in the Senate last August, was passed 425 to 0 on Wednesday. The measure directs the secretary of state to develop a strategy to “regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and for other purposes.”

The bill has been sent to US President Joe Biden to sign into law.

Chinese experts on Thursday said the latest US effort to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) will prove futile again, just like how numerous political stunts pulled by the separatists over the past five years failed to achieve any meaningful results.

The Beijing government has been blocking Taiwan’s representation at WHO meetings after the self-ruled democracy elected Tsai Ing-wen as Taiwan’s president in 2016 and again in 2020.

Delegates from Taiwan had attended the WHA as nonvoting observers from 2009 to 2016, during a period of relatively warm ties between Beijing and Taipei.

Chinese analysts suggested that the US administration might pull some tricks but that will prove futile too, state media outlet Global Times reported.