BEIJING -- A mainland spokesperson on Wednesday said that Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority is solely to blame for the island's exclusion from the World Health Assembly.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, noted that the World Health Organization is a body of the United Nations that only sovereign nations can join. The Taiwan region, as part of China, has never had the right to be a member.

Taiwan's participation in WHO activities must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle, said Zhu. She said that the DPP authority has undermined the political foundation for cross-Strait consultation by clutching to its successionist agenda of "Taiwan independence," as well as twisting and denying the 1992 Consensus.

By doing so, the DPP authority has diminished the political foundation for Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly, added Zhu.