Escaping the ‘Realise Trap’: The ROC’s Participation in Global Health Governance Under the One-China Principle

Drawing on the perspectives about global governance offered by realist international relations theory, this chapter aims to demonstrate that international institutions of global health governance are just another arena of world politics that is vulnerable to manipulation by powerful states. The utility of realism in understanding global health governance is examined by looking at the case of Taiwan, also named the Republic of China (ROC), and the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study shows how the One-China Principle has restricted interactions between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the ROC during health emergencies. While the constraints seem formidable, this paper argues that the ROC can potentially escape the ‘realist trap’ because of its de facto status, participating in global health governance in a meaningful way