Taiwan has been invited to take part in the second Global Covid-19 Summit, a virtual meeting to be co-hosted by US President Joe Biden later this week, the Taiwanese foreign minister said.
It was not immediately known whether Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen would directly attend the event - a move certain to draw protest from Beijing which claims sovereignty of the self-ruled island.
The second Global Covid-19 Summit is expected to be held on Thursday for countries to discuss efforts to end the pandemic and prepare for future health threats, according to the White House.
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"The emergence and spread of new variants, like Omicron, have reinforced the need for a strategy aimed at controlling Covid-19 worldwide," the White House said on April 18 in statement with the Group of Seven and Group of 20 nations.
"We are calling on world leaders, members of civil society, non-governmental organisations, philanthropists and the private sector to make new commitments and bring solutions to vaccinate the world, save lives now and build better health security - for everyone, everywhere," they said.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that as with last year's event, the island had been invited to take part.
"We will attend the event this year and have also decided the candidate for the summit," Wu said during a legislature hearing on Monday.
"As to who the candidate would be, we would only reveal it after the event as requested by the organisers," Wu said, adding this was in line with the practice last year.
Taiwan was represented by former vice-president Chen Chien-jen in the virtual global summit last year.
The invitation is expected to anger Beijing, which has considered the island its territory, subject to its control by force if necessary. It has time and again warned other countries against having official contact with Taiwan.
Beijing, which skipped September's summit, protested against Taiwan's participation in the event last year.
It is not immediately known whether Beijing would attend the event this year.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on April 19 that Beijing was aware of the event and "China welcomes all efforts conducive to promoting international solidarity and science-based response to Covid-19". However, Wang did not indicate if Beijing had been invited.