The coronavirus pandemic has shone a spotlight on Taiwan's exclusion from the World Health Organization and ignited a diplomatic row between China and some Western powers.

Taiwan -- officially the Republic of China -- was a founding member of the WHO when the global health body was created in 1948.

She hails from a party that views Taiwan as a de facto independent nation and doesn't subscribe to Beijing's idea that it belongs to a "one China".

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said Taiwan's participation can only be decided by member states with the consent of "the relevant government" -- a reference to Beijing.

But any recognition of Taiwan's de facto sovereign nation status is seen as a win for Taipei and a blow for Beijing.