Taiwan has accused the World Health Organisation of risking a global health emergency by barring it from attending its global health summit in Geneva at the end of May at China's behest.

This week the WHO, a United Nations agency, declined to invite Taiwan for the third consecutive year to an annual meeting of its decision-making body, the World Health Assembly (WHA), because of objections from Beijing.

In a Telegraph interview, Joseph Wu, the Taiwanese foreign minister, warned that Taipei’s exclusion from the world health summit and from dozens of WHO technical expert meetings created loopholes in global health security networks that could quicken the spread of pandemics in Taiwan, Asia and beyond.

“It’s morally wrong,” he said. “The WHO charter states very clearly that we should have the highest attainable standards of healthcare for all mankind. And Taiwan has 23 million people. Taiwan should not be excluded. It’s very simple.”

The WHO snub fits into a growing pattern of attempts by Beijing to squeeze Taipei out of the international arena and to deny the island democracy any kind of formal diplomatic recognition by global bodies or foreign governments.

China is seeking to annex Taiwan, which operates like any other democratic nation with its own government, currency, foreign policy and military.