Secretary of State Pompeo accused WHO of not inviting Taiwan to the World Health Assembly meeting because of pressure from China.

"World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has every right and precedent to invite Taiwan to attend the meeting. However, he chose not to invite Taiwan because he was under pressure from China."

The US Secretary of State said that the absence of Taiwan made the World Health Assembly (WHA) unable to take advantage of the island's scientific expertise, and at the same time discredited the WHO's reputation and effectiveness.

The head of Taiwan's foreign ministry, Joseph Wu, earlier said island officials were not invited to attend the annual WHA meeting.

Taiwan has been an observer of WHA, the WHO decision-making body, since 2009, when relations between the two straits of Taiwan warmed up.

Taipei says Beijing and WHO have a "political purpose" when removing the island from important meetings of the organization.

Taiwan recently actively lobbied for the WHA meeting, saying it wanted to share with the world the success of its fight against disease.

Advocacy efforts to join the WHA as observers of Taiwan received strong support from the United States.